.372 
BEE-EATER. 
7-10 Oct. 
ing from my own personal experience, I should characterize it as 
every where remarkably salubrious. 
The preceding account will not only give an idea of the country 
and people to which it more especially refers, but, in several circum- 
stances of a more general nature, it may be applied to the other 
tribes also. The meteorological remarks will be found equally ap- 
plicable to all the country around, within a hundred miles. 
Ith. The flock of sheep which I bought in the Roggeveld 
Karro were already consumed, owing to the small quantity of 
game we had hitherto been able to procure. During my residence 
at Klaarwater, I obtained occasionally a few sheep or goats from the 
Hottentots ; but it was always attended with some difficulty, as they 
made a favor of selling them to me. What the missionaries had to 
spare, they readily supplied me with ; but I began to perceive, that 
if our huntings were not more successful, there would be little pro- 
spect of persuading the people here to sell us as much as we re- 
quired, unless they were paid in gunpowder ; a mode of payment 
which I resolved, if possible, to avoid ; for the reason that the quan- 
tity demanded for a sheep would be sufficient to procure us ten times 
as much food in game. 
Speelman returned from Elands' Valley, to receive his rations of 
mutton, flour, tobacco, and brandy ; having left the oxen in the care 
of one of the other herdsmen. From his report of their very emaci- 
ated and weak state, I saw that we were likely to be detained here a 
long time for their recovery. He brought me half a dozen birds, 
three of which I had not seen before. * One was a Bee-eater, known 
commonly by the name Berg Zxvaluw (Mountain Swallow), which 
scarcely differed from the European species. 
8///. On examining into the state of the zmggons, it appeared 
that the one purchased at Tulbagli was not so excellent a bargain as 
* Merops Apiaster. 
Sylvia . Le Grivetin ? Le Vaill. Ois. d'AfV. pi. 1 18. 
Saxicola . Lc Traquet Foiirmilier. Le V. 186. 
