Nature and Art, August 1, 18f>6] 
THE WELWITSCHIA MIRABILIS. 
63 
quietly down by turning the rod round in the 
hand and so unwinding the wound-up trace. Some 
little care is required in baiting the hook with 
the caterpillar in order that it may not be torn ; 
the point should be entered at the back and 
brought out the length of the shank down the side. 
Three or four No. 4 shot should be placed on the 
trace at about four inches apart, and the lower one 
about sixteen inches from the hook. 
In putting on the shot great care must be 
taken not to crush the gut in closing the flat 
surfaces of the divided lead, and it is a good plan 
to first partially close the slit over a bit of fine 
wire, before introducing the gut, which is thus 
kept round, instead of being squeezed fiat, and 
thereby seriously weakened. The “ approach ” to 
the water-side must be as stealthily as that of a 
red Indian or deer-stalker. Every tree trunk, rock, 
or tuft of fern being used as a screen to guard the 
lurking fisherman from the keen eyes of the ever- 
watchful fish. The bait should be dropped quietly 
and naturally on the water, as if the caterpillar 
had lowered himself from the branches above by 
his web, and “ paid out ” too much of it. By 
gently lowering the top of the rod the green lure 
is now allowed to sink quietly away, and when it 
has reached within a short distance of the bottom, 
should be brought by short lifts, “sinking and 
drawing,” so to speak, up again. Yery few fish 
are abstemious enough to resist this attraction, and 
a number will be often seen shooting off at once 
through the clear water, like arrows towards the 
bait. Just an instant should be allowed after the 
bait disappears from sight, or the indescribable but 
pleasant sensation which a biting fish sends thrilling 
through the rod is felt ; then strike sharply out, 
sideways and upwards, and should you be fortunate 
enough to hook your fish, keep a tight line ; hold 
his head well up, and get your net under him as 
quickly as possible, as there is rarely much room 
afforded for playing a fish in situations where 
caterpillar fishing is most destructive, and which 
the larger members of the finny race select as their 
favourite haunts. 
THE WELWITSCHIA MIRABILIS 
( Plant of HyTccimlcop), South-West Africa. 
By T. Baines, F.R.G.S. 
O NT the desolate coast of South-West Africa, the 
sand, drifting from any projecting point before 
the prevalent southerly wind, forms shoals running 
northward nearly parallel to the coast, and inclosing 
bays which afford secure anchorage to vessels of 
almost any size, and lagoons into whose still waters 
countless myriads of smaller fish are chased by 
sharks, porpoises, and many varieties of the smaller 
whales. Their shallows are frequented by long 
lines of flamingoes, so numberless that, when upon 
the wing a rose-coloured cloud seems quivering in 
the air. Here snow-white pelicans — their forms 
lifted to an enormous height by the mirage — loom 
like the canvas of some distant vessel : there 
duikers, or cormorants, similarly distorted, look 
like stranded hulks ; cover the surface of the bay 
with long, dark lines, as they wheel in mazy 
evolutions ; or blacken patches of sand for many 
hundreds of yards when they settle. 
Upon the shores of some of- these bays, fisheries 
have been established by merchants of Cape Town, 
who send, for the use of those employed, supplies of 
food and stores, and sometimes fresh water, by the 
vessels which call occasionally to collect the produce 
of their industry. Some serve as points of de- 
parture for traders or travellers to the interior. 
Of these Walvisch (or Whale) Bay (Lat. 22° 57' S.) 
is the most important, and here upon the broad 
flat formed by the estuary of the Kuisip River — 
overflowed by every spring-tide, and flooded with 
fresh water perhaps once in ten years — stood, 
when I arrived in 1861, the unpretending wooden 
dwelling of Mr. Latham, in which goods requiring 
protection were stowed till they could be forwarded 
to the interior. Neither grass nor water was to be 
found there, and waggons were either loaded up at 
once, or the cattle sent to graze at a distance till 
again required. After crossing this dreary flat — 
odorous with the remains of flat fish drying in the 
sun — the dry bed of the Kuisip winding between 
shifting sand-hills, served us for a road. Our 
wheels sank deeply, and the sand flew from their 
spokes as they revolved, like water from the paddles 
of a steamer ; while the dense, hot dust- cloud 
so raised, rendered it impossible to breathe to 
leeward. The small patches of samphire gave 
place to a semi-saline vegetation. Stunted dabbies 
or tamarisks, ganna bushes, and a few thorns 
appeared; and the “nara,” a half-creeping thorny 
shrub, bearing a no less prickly fruit, somewhat 
bigger than an ostrich’s egg, clothed, and helped 
somewhat to bind together, the sides of the loose 
sand-hills. The fruit which is about the sole 
vegetable food of the few poor natives during nearly 
a third part of the year, is, when ripe, of a yellowish 
green colour. On breaking the thin, gourd-like 
shell, a deep yellow or orange coloured pulp appears, 
which may be eaten with a spoon, and tastes 
deliciously ; but is apt, if too freely indulged in, to 
bring on nausea, and soreness of the lips and gums. 
The seeds, which are numerous, and not unlike 
those of a melon, are scattered through the pulp, 
but are not eaten with it. The natives collect 
them carefully, dry, and keep them in bags of skin, 
