294 
THE ROCK FOUNTAIN. 
9 Sept. 
day, became already a most irksome task, yet one which was abso- 
lutely indispensable. * 
By an observation at noon, the latitude of the Bushman Rock 
Fountain f was ascertained to be 31° 0' 38". % 
I was descending alone to view the spring, the value of which I 
had heard our people so much extol, as affording the traveller a 
never-failing supply, when one of the Hottentots called out, ad- 
vising me to take my gun, lest, seeing me unarmed, some evil- 
disposed native might be tempted to attack or rob me. He remarked 
very prudently, and, I believed, properly, that it is safe always to 
suspect that such men are lurking behind every bush or crag of rock, 
ready to let fly a poisoned arrow on the unsuspecting passenger. 
I returned for my gun, resolving to keep his advice in memory ; and 
1 now impart it, with serious recommendation, to all who may here- 
after find themselves in similar circumstances. 
The water lay in a large rocky basin, or reservoir, at the head 
of a ravine walled on either side by a precipice of sandstone rocks, 
the upper end forming a romantic natural amphitheatre, out of the 
sides of which, and from the clefts of the stone, grew a few green 
shrubs to decorate this singular scene. At the head of this ravine, a 
strong stream, in the rainy season, pours down the precipice into the 
basin, and, overflowing the reservoir, runs through the interstices of 
large blocks of stone, down into the valley below. In approaching 
the spot, I heard a number of voices, the sound of which, reverberat- 
ing from the walls, discovered to me two Bushmen and three women : 
the latter had their children at their backs. They proved to be of a 
* At Klip Fontein, grow — 
Pteris ? calomelanos. Sp. PL ed. Willd. 
Ehrharta. 
And species of — 
Bromus Hermamiia Mahernia 
Zygophyllum BiLchnera Lachenalia, &c. 
-j- This is called the Rock Fountain of the Bushmen, to distinguish it from another 
spring of the same name, afterwards met with in the country of the Koraquas, 
X 9th Sept., at Klip Fontein, the observed meridional altitude of the sun's upper 
limb was 53° 39' 35". 
