454 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
14.— 16 Nov. 
yards. It was sheltered by reeds and a large sedge *, intermingled 
with a tall and beautiful species of grass -f- ; on the roots of which, 
and every where on the ground, the water had deposited a. "Calcareous 
incrustation, similar to that which I first observed at Schiet Fontein, 
and afterward at Klaarwater and the neighbouring springs. A Statice, 
growing plentifully about the rivulet, would seem to indicate some 
brackish quality in the earth, and, consequently, in the water also ; 
which, at a distance from the fountain-head, it was found actiially 
to possess, though not in a very unpleasant degree. 
All the species of the genus Statice grow, with few exceptions, 
either on the sea-shore or on saline ground. Many plants are ex- 
cellent indicators of the nature of the soil ; and the agriculturist 
would do well, in bringing new land under culture, to allow himself 
to be guided by the hints they offer. So unaccommodating ir^ this 
respect are a great number of the vegetable creation, that in vain are 
their seeds dispersed by the winds or the waters, unless they happen 
to fall in such situations as afford them that terrestrial food, and 
aerial nourishment, to which their peculiar structure has been by 
Nature adapted. Observers of vegetable physiology have not yet 
been enabled to offer any satisfactory explanation of the causes 
of those properties of plants which may be termed their instinct, and 
which are shown by their affecting particular soils ; or situations ; or 
climates ; or cold or heat ; or dryness or moisture. Knowledge of this 
kind is a desideratum, the practical utility of which, and its application 
to numberless and various purposes, might render it worthy of the at- 
tention of those who pursue the investigation of physical science. 
I5ih. At this place the Kloof, or Pass up the mountain, is 
more even and less steep than any other passage that the Hot- 
tentots have hitherto discovered in this range. We were, however, 
obliged to keep six men employed for two days, with spades and 
pickaxes, in filling up the holes and ravines made by the torrents, 
* Of the same genus as the Palmite, described at page 91. 
f A species of Sacckarum. Catal. Geogr. 1810. 
