1811. 
BEAUTIFUL RIVER SCENERY. 
317 
Here I could have rested the whole day ; here I could have fixed 
my abode for months : enjoying the delightful shade, and inhaling 
the refreshing air. Rapt v/ith the pleasing sensations which the 
scenery inspired, I sat on the bank a long time contemplating the 
serenity and beauty of the view. The enormous footsteps of the 
mighty River-Horse^ imprinted the sandy shore with numerous large 
holes, made as he nightly emerges from his watery element, to 
feed on the grass and foliage along the shore. Lower down, the 
wreck of large trees which had been swept away by the stream, 
during some great inundation, and here caught the bottom, 
leaving their crooked weather-beaten branches, thrust up above the 
surface, stood a monument of the resistless power of the tlood at 
such times ; though now, so smooth and gentle. 
The willows (PFiVgaw-^oowi) which ornamented the banks, bore 
a great resemblance in their growth to the ' Weeping Willow,' of our 
gardens, but are botanically different * ; they occupied the lower 
rank close to the water's edge, growing to the height of fifty feet ; 
the next was filled chiefly with Zn^artebast (Black-bark f), Karreehouf, 
and Buffeldoorn (Buffalo-thorn) % ; and the uppermost with the 
Doornboom. 
The willow had just put on its new leaves, and their lively 
yellow-green, and clean vernal freshness, had a cheerful effect on the 
spirits, and delighted and relieved the eye by a hue the most sooth- 
ing and grateful. The Black-hark and Bujfalo-thorn had not yet put 
on their summer dress, but the soft umbrageous foliage of the Karree- 
tree remains equally verdant at all seasons. 
common on the margins of rivei's, but has been engraved too heavily to convey a just 
notion of its appearance. The figures are a party of Biishmeii. 
* Salix Gariej)i?ia, C. G .1637. et 2669. Arbor viginti-petlalis, Ramuli glaljri 
penduli. Folia acute et anguste lanceolata, serrulata, glabra, subtus glaucescentiu. 
Calyx pubescens. Amenta mascula cylindrica foliis breviora. Stamina 5. Racemi 
foeminei foliis' brevioi'es. Capsulee glabrae ovatae pedicellata?, bivalves. 
f Royeiia decidua, C. G. 1750. Frutex 15-pedalis. Cortex nigrescens. Folia 
anguste-lanceolata, obtusiuscula glabra (juniora pubescentia.) Flores axillares. Pedun- 
culi longissimi filiformes penduli. 
The name of Zisoaiibaste is given, in the Cape Colony, to Royena lucida. 
\ Zizyphus lubalinus. Licht. 
