1811. 
THE WAGGON-TREE. 
123 
poplar near the house, relieved the naked, unsheltered appearance 
of the situation, which was backed by a low range of mountains, of 
serrated outline, and composed, probably, of a slaty rock ; the 
nearest summit of which is called Grootkop* (Great Head, or Peak.) 
Several little half-naked Hottentot children, curious to know what 
I was doing, came round me, and crawled about on the ground 
before me, amusing themselves in playing with dust and dirt. The 
boys are most frequently seen with a whip in their hands, propor- 
tionably of the same unwieldy length as those which are used by the 
waggon-drivers ; so that, from their very infancy, they begin to 
acquire a dexterous management of it. 
On the road from this place, we passed some large trees of Wagen- 
boom {Protea grandijlora), so called by the colonists because the wood 
of it has been found suitable for making the fellies of waggon-wheels. 
It is reddish, and has a very pretty, reticulated grain, which might, 
perhaps, render it deserving of being employed for ornamental fur- 
niture. It much resembles some of the cabinet-woods brought from 
New South Wales ; which, in fact, are of trees belonging to the 
same natural order : thus giving to botanists an additional hint, that 
characters may possibly be discovered in the structure of the wood 
of plants, that may throw some wished-for light on a natural classifi- 
cation of vegetables. It is the largest growing tree, of the Pro- 
teaceous tribe, in this part of Africa. It is found growing in dry, 
rocky places, with a trunk often a foot or more in diameter ; and is 
remarkable for its exceedingly blue foliage. It is decorated with 
large handsome flowers of a pale yellow color, which, though four 
inches wide when fully expanded, are still inferior in size to those of 
Protea cynardides. Another proteaceous tree {Brabeium stellati- 
folium), sometimes exceeds the Wagenboom in the extent of its 
branches ; but is smaller in the trunk. We passed many other 
species of the same order, and a great variety of shrubby plants 
* The word kop occurs very frequently in the names of places, and implies either a 
peak in a range of mountains, or a single hill. 
R 2 
