342 
AAKAAP. — ANT-EATER. 
29 Sept. 
bably Greenstone or Granite, as they appeared to be of a different 
formation from the Asbestos rocks. One of these bore a great re- 
semblance in shape to the Lion Mountain at Cape Town. 
After travelHng seven miles and a half, we halted for ten 
minutes at Aakaap, or Riet Fontein (Reed Fountain), situated on a 
bleak unsheltered flat. Here the stone foundations of a small hut, 
and the remains of a tank or reservoir for rain-water, dug out of a 
clayey soil, were still to be seen ; but not a reed, as the name of the 
spot would imply, was now growing here. The spring at this time 
was only a dirty pond ten feet in diameter, containing little more 
than water enough for the teams. 
1 had intended to remain a day at this place, but finding it so 
miserable and uninteresting a spot, I ordered the drivers to proceed 
to the next spring. On our road a large herd of Spjingbucks bounded 
swiftly over the plain, and were soon out of sight. Stones of quartz 
lay scattered over the surface of the soil, and the points of quartz 
rocks frequently made their appearance above ground, much to our 
annoyance in jolting the waggons. 
Philip, whose eyes were more employed in looking after the 
springbucks than in taking notice of the road, had nearly over- 
turned the great waggon by carelessly driving into an Anteaters^ 
burrow. Aardvarh is the colonial name of this animal, and sig- 
nifies Earth Hog; and, indeed, it may, from its appearance and 
size, be more justly compared to the hog, than to the other Ant- 
eaters ; but in its mode of life, however, it exactly resembles the 
latter. With its fore-feet, which are admirably formed for that use, it 
digs a deep hole, wherein it lies concealed the whole of the day ; never 
venturing out but at night, when it repairs to feed at the ant-hills, 
which abound in many parts of the country. Scratching a hole on 
one side of them, (as represented in the engraving at the head of 
the eighteenth chapter,) it disturbs the little community ; on which 
* The Orycteropus Capensis, of later writers; and the Myrmecophaga Capensis, of 
Linn. Sys. Nat. ed. Gmel. Of this animal, I have presented a skin to the Bi'itish 
Museum. 
