\ 
56 SAND MOLE. 31 Jan. 
sometimes go out in search of kukumakrankies ; and as it is difficult 
to find them, being very inconspicuous amongst the herbage, they 
consider it a httle triumph to return home with a few ; and the 
kukumakranki season (June) never passes unnoticed. 
From three o'clock till fivej the time was pleasantly spent in 
wandering and collecting * in a more southward direction ; when, 
coming to a hollow spot which appeared sheltered from the wind, 
my negro unpacked our basket of provisions. This solitary situ- 
ation, in the midst of a wild bushy country, without any traces of 
cultivation or of human habitations, might sometimes recall to mind 
the romantic tale of Robinson Crusoe ; and fancy would assist these 
ideas, if one beheld a sable attendant, busily and cheerfully employed 
in spreading the frugal meal before us, while seated on the ground, 
and delighted with the luxuries of Nature, unalloyed by restraint. 
The banquet was soon finished ; I rose and left the poor fellow to 
take my place, while I rambled to a little distance to explore the 
heath in another quarter. 
Here, as well as in every other part of the Sand Flats, I observed 
innumerable mole-hills ; and my foot very often sunk into their 
burrows. For this reason it is very unpleasant, if not dangerous, to 
ride on horseback in such places, as persons are liable to be thrown, 
by the feet of their horses unexpectedly sinking into these holes. 
The animal which makes these hillocks is a very large kind of mole- 
rat f , nearly as big as a rabbit, with a very soft downy ash-coloured 
* In the open sandy country lying eastward from Rondebosch, the following were 
among the number of plants added to my Herbarium. 
Phylica secunda ? Th. Anthericum contortum. Th. 
Briinia squarrosa ? Aristea cyanca 
Chironia lychno'ides Cliffortia ferruginea 
Roella spicata Chiro7iia friitescens 
Dianthus Chironia lino'ides 
Myrica qiicrcifolia Moiitinia acris 
Gnidia simplex 
f The Mks maritimiis of Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 140. 
