VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA. 
345 
On oiiv road home, we passed tlirougli the Khibeifalg, the resi- 
dence of Mr. Duckctt. 
18th. Mr. Duckett, jiin. called upon iis, with an invitation from 
his father to dinner. As I expected every day to be my last at 
Groenekloof, we declined it, but in the afternoon, Brother Schmitt 
took a ride with me to his house. The road leads through the up- 
per or eastern part of the village. After passing the Elephant-stones, 
the valley is narrow, but rich and fertile, and Mr. Duckett, being 
an excellent farmer, makes the most of it. The low hills to the 
right, are adorned with a profusion of wild bushes, with huge blocks 
of granite, fancifully dispersed among them. Their summits are 
crowned with assemblages of the same stone, forming broken rocks. 
We saw Mr. Duckett in his garden, alighted, and joined him. 
Groenekloof being this year, rather scantily supplied with garden- 
produce, he kindly offered, out of his abundance, to give us what we 
might send for. 
When we arrived at the house, Ave weie kindly received by Mrs. 
Duckett, who treated us with the most friendly attention. The 
conversation turned upon improvements in farming, and furnished 
an opportunity of removing some misunderstanding. Perceiving, 
that I was an admirer of natural curiosities, Mr» Duckett presented 
me with the tail of a pylstort, (arrow-tail), a fish caught in Simon's- 
bay. The tail itself is slender, and about fourteen inches in length. 
From the upper part of its insertion into the body, proceed two 
sharp bones, serrated on both sides, placed above each other, the 
lower, three, the upper, two inches long, which the fish can turn 
in any direction, infliicting a most severe and dangerous wound 
on its enemy. Every tooth of this bony saw acts as a barb, and 
if once inserted, cannot be extracted without great laceration of 
the flesh. It attacks sharks and other large fish Avith iaipuuity, 
as all dread the experiment of having their throats pierced by such 
formidable weapons. The specimen given to me, Avas taken Avith 
a shark. 
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