1810. 
LEEUWENHOF. 
17 
at the Cape. Through him I became acquahited with many of the 
most respectable Dutch famihes, whose civihties contributed much 
to render Cape Town so agreeable to me. His friend Polemann, who 
like himself was a lover of natural history, caught the same warmth 
of friendship, and, by his knowledge of the colony and its customs, 
greatly facilitated my preparations. 
5tJi. Having determined on taking a day's ramble, with a view 
to exploring and collecting the productions of the fields and hills, I 
set out early in the morning, accompanied only by a slave-boy to 
carry my boxes, and bent my steps southerly through the town, 
passing the very pleasant villa of Leeuwenhof, the residence of 
Mr. Zorn, the Landdrost of the Cape District. Between this place 
and Table Mountain, I found an excellent field for my researches, 
the land being but little cultivated, and nearly in a state of nature. 
Here the vegetation differed in its character, from that which 
I had already observed on the sides of the Lion Mountain. As 
I walked along in the midst of the variety and profusion, I could not 
for some time divest myself of feelings of regret, that at every step 
my foot crushed some beautiful plant ; for it is not easy, at one's 
first walks in this country, to lay aside a kind of respect with which 
one is accustomed, in Europe, to treat the Proteas, the Ericas, the 
Pelargoniums,, the Chironias, the Royenas, &c. It was now the dry 
season, and, therefore, not a favourable time for the botanist ; 
most plants having ceased flowering, while many of the bulbous 
and herbaceous kind, had disappeared altogether. 
Coming to a very pleasant spot by the side of a brook of clear 
water, which ran from Table Mountain, we sat down under some 
beautiful Silver-trees *, which shaded us from a very hot sun : here we 
opened our basket and took breakfast. After this we bent our course 
north-westerly, continuing to collect, as it were, with both hands. 
The beautiful little Certhia [Nectarinia) chalybea, flying from 
flower to flower, was frequently seen ; and, by its rich and gay 
* JLeucadendrum argenteum, the Protea argcntea of Linn£Eus. See the Vignette at the 
end of this Chapter, where it is represented in the proportion of one-third of the natural 
size. 
D 
