134 
A MODE OF PRESERVING PLANTS. 
18 April, 
had they been pressed. The chief inconvenience was found to con- 
sist in their not lying flat in the herbarium ; but, by folding them 
up in a wet cloth, they became sufficiently relaxed to admit, with a 
little care, of being pressed flat enough for that purpose. 
I much regret that I was unacquainted with these facts at 
the time when I first travelled from Klaarwater to Graaffreynett. I 
had then no convenience for drying plants, but could, had I been 
aware of this method, have preserved, without trouble, any number 
of specimens I might have desired. 
I have been particular in relating these circumstances, because 
a knowledge of the complete success of such an experiment may be 
of use to those travellers who would desire to bring home specimens 
of the botany of some rarely-visited country, but who might have 
neither the means nor the time for the usual method. I would 
recommend for this purpose a pasteboard box, having a good num~ 
ber of large pin-holes pierced in the sides, for the purpose of ad- 
mitting air till the plants be sufficiently dried ; and which, for 
safety while on the road, may be enclosed in a box of wood. It 
is unnecessary to give a more detailed explanation, as the above 
hints will readily suggest other particulars, and some further advan- 
tages of this method: but it should never be resorted to when 
the regular mode is practicable. There are, however, a multitude 
of plants which make the best specimens, and preserve the greatest 
resemblance to nature, when they are dried without any pressure 
at all. 
While I was employed in making drawings of the village, 
Mr. Polemann attended an auction at a neighbouring farm, at which 
some draught-oxen were to be sold ; but, as the biddings were as 
high as thirty-five rix dollars a-piece, which he considered to be 
more than their real value, he purchased none. Therefore, as 
Mr. Mong, the Boode *, had informed me that proper oxen might 
be obtained in the Bokkeveld, at the price of three hundred rix- 
* A Boode is the official messenger of a Landdr-ost. 
