46 
TRAVELS IN 
Ofliade, who, judging from his pidures, muft have been wit- 
nefs to many of the fame kind. 
The noife of the BacchanaUans was accompanied by a ftorm 
of thunder ; and the rain, that fell in the courfe of the night, 
had rendered the air the next morning cool and refrefhing. It 
was the firft (hower that had fallen in this part of the country 
for near four months, and the efFe£ts of it on the ground were 
very fenfibly perceived in the courfe of four days. 
At this feafon of the year, when the earth is thoroughly 
heated, the rapidity with which vegetation burfts forth, after 
rain, is almoft incredible. Among the earlieft of fuch plants, 
as by the brilliancy of their flowers captivate the fight, are the 
various fpecies of the oxalis^ the yellow ftar-flower, and the 
three-coloured Lachenalia^ with two or three other fpecies of 
the fame genus. But one of the moft fingular among the fmall 
plants, that bloffom in the beginning of winter, is the feptasy 
whofe name is derived from the regular feptenary divifion of 
all the different parts of frudification, and is remarkable for be- 
ing the only plant, yet difcovered, in the feventh clafs and fe- 
venth order of the Linmxan Syftem. 
The refrefhing coolnefs, occafioned by the rain, permitted 
us to extend our march to the river Zojider End^ or Endlefs 
River, near the banks of which the Dutch Eaft India Company 
had referved, for its own ufe, an extenfive trad: of land called 
the Sweet M'lWs Valley* It is bounded on the north fide by a 
range 
