DIFFICULTY OF GETTING WATER. 221 
alive the man who was at the bottom. The labour of 
two hours was lost, and tired as they were, the men 
had to begin their work afresh. It was eight at night 
before the well was cleared out again sufficiently 
to enable us to water the horses, for almost as fast 
as the sand was thrown out other sand fell in ; by 
nine the whole of them had received two buckets of 
water each, when the sides of the well again shot in, 
and we were obliged to give up our digging opera- 
tions altogether, as the men were completely ex- 
hausted ; to relieve them Mr. Scott and I watched 
the horses during the night. 
November 16. — Intending to remain in camp to- 
day, I set the men to clear out the well once more. 
It was a tedious and laborious task, in consequence 
of the banks of sand falling in so repeatedly, and 
frustrating all their efforts, but at last by sinking a 
large cask bored full of auger holes we contrived 
about one o’clock, to get all the horses and sheep 
watered ; in the evening, however, the whole again 
fell in, and we gave up, in despair, the hopeless 
attempt to procure any further supply of water, 
under such discouraging circumstances. 
For some days past, we had been travelling 
through a country in which the Mesembryanthemum 
grows in the greatest abundance, it was in full fruit, 
and constituted a favourite and important article of 
food among the native population ; all our party 
p artook of it freely, and found it both a wholesome 
and an agreeable addition to their fare ; when ripe, 
