OCT.] 
NAMACQUA LAND. 
463 
In consequence of the great heat we judged it pru- 
pent to put off our departure till seven P.M. The 
first three hours of our journey was over hills, in deep 
sand ; most of us walked on foot the whole way. 
Near midnight the road became a litde harder, and 
at two o'clock in the morning we came to Ink Koker 
(or inkstand) Fountain, so called from the water resem- 
bling ink in colour and thickness ; of course we had no 
encouragement to stop there. We went forward till 
half past four in the morning, when hearing a cock 
crow we halted, believing that some house must be 
near, and consequently water, but being dark we saw 
nothing. 
7th. When day light arrived, we found no boors 
place, yet there was a boor from Bokkeveld stopping 
for a while with sheep, living in a hut. The fountain 
is very salt, yet the oxen drank it. There was neither 
rock, nor tree, nor large bush to afford the smallest 
shelter from the almost intolerably scorching rays of 
the sun, which made it a trying day. 
At noon, in the coolest part of the waggon, the ther- 
mometer stood at 97. At two P.M. 101, and at three 
P.M. at 98, after which it gradually fell to 90. At 
one time we had a pretty strong puff of wind, which 
felt as if it had been mingled with fire. At six P.M. we 
left that oven, most of us walking to spare the oxen. 
The road lay along the side of low hills, and was 
tolerably hard. At eight P.M. we came to a fountain 
of salt water, mixed with filth, where we found a &mily 
