300 
DISTRESS FROM WANT OF WATER. 
11 Sept. 
with an additional summit, was distinguished by the name* of 
Pramberg, 
The soil of this plain is a light clay tempered with sand, ap- 
parently well suited for the purposes of agriculture ; but, from the 
want of a more constant supply of rain, producing, in general, no 
shrub above a foot in height, excepting two or three kinds of Lycium. 
Grass was observed between the bushes ; but at this season it was 
short and very thinly scattered : yet, after the rains have fallen, this 
plain is said to be covered with verdure. 
The oxen being pushed on almost at a trot, we travelled at the 
rate of four miles and a half in the hour, which brought us to the 
termination of the plain at half-past five, above seventeen miles 
from Elands Valley, where we halted at a place called Carel Kriegers 
Grave. * It was intended to unyoke here for the night ; but it was 
found that every drop of water was dried up. No sooner was this 
ascertained, than a melancholy silence pervaded the whole party, in- 
terrupted only by the mournful lowings of the thirsty cattle. From 
the report of the Hottentots who came with the relays, it was known 
that, forwards, there was no water within five-and-thirty miles ; and 
the probability of finding none, even there, was a prospect which 
could not but excite gloomy apprehensions. Deliberation was use- 
* While waiting at Carel Krieger's Grave, I discovered a very curious kind of Acacia, 
which, from its most striking feature, as compared with the other species of Southern 
Africa, instantly suggested to me the name of 
Acacia viridiramis. Cat. Geog. 1586. Frutex 3 — 4-pedalis. Rami virides flexuosi. 
Spinas 2 stipulares recurvae brevissimas. Gemmas (sub lente) albo-lanatae. 
Folia parva conjugato-pinnata. Pinnae 6 — 8-jugae. Folia ovaHa approxi- 
mata. 
Here also was found a new species of 
Zygophyllum, of singular robust growth ; 
And two kinds of 
Lycium, species which, a little farther northward, were observed of a larger size 
than had hitherto been seen in the Bushman country. 
Crassula, resembling C. imhricata 
Eriocephalus decussatus. B. 
Pteronia ? 2 species 
Relhania ? 
