266 
MAGNETIC VARIATION, 
13—16 Aud. 
The Roode-bekje (Red beak) *, a small finch, seen here in great 
numbers, is a very common bird, and widely disjDersed over the 
whole country. An ostrich's nest, having only three eggs, was found 
in the plains. 
13^/?. The missionaries arrived in the evening ; our party now 
mustered six waggons with their proportion of people, four horses, 
a large flock of sheep, and a pack of dogs. 
I was here informed of a circumstance which vexed me exceed- 
ingly : a Hottentot entrusted with the mail for the Bokkeveld and 
Karro, had broken it open in expectation of finding money, and thrown 
all the letters away : some of which had been picked up again and 
were delivered according to their address. Amongst those which had 
been thus recovered, was one for the missionaries ; and for a long 
time I continued uneasy at the idea that this mail might have con- 
tained letters for me also. 
14th. The day commenced with a furious wind, and dust flying 
in all directions ; but towards the afternoon these began to abate. 
Our road led throuoh the Reed-river Pass, in which we had to wade 
through the water three times ; and this, with the difficulty of the 
road, occasioned us to be not less than three quarters of an hour in 
going through this defile. The country we afterwards travelled over 
was open, and generally level, though rocky, and apparently very 
barren. The earth was of a reddish color, scattered over with low 
stunted bushes, without a single verdant blade of grass in the inter- 
stices. Here and there, short compact patches of a singular kind of 
grass \, of an arid look, were observed, most of which were in part 
dead ; the decay commencing at the centre, and spreading outward. 
We halted at Stink Fontein (Stinking Spring), where there was 
no water but what was obtained with difficulty, by digging pits in 
the bed of a rivulet. It was not found so objectionable as the name 
of the place would imply. 
Here the magnetic variation was observed to be 27°^ W. 
* Loxia Astrild. Linn. 
f Aristida? centrifuga, B. Cat. Geogr. 1392. 
