chap, xxvii. A DAY AMONGST THE GNUS. 267 
buffaloes used to hide therein. A hunter, in trying to 
force his horse over it, broke a hole through the 
crust of peat-earth, and the man narrowly escaped 
falling into a lake of hot water. From this time forth 
the vegetation began to wither, and at the present 
time the whole extent of the former marsh is quite bare 
of grass and dried up. 
The small hole originally broken through has gradu¬ 
ally become of large extent, and exposes a great lake of 
hot water, with a crust of about eight feet of earth above 
it. The expanse of water appears to extend to a consi¬ 
derable distance underneath. 
The water itself is very hot—nearly up to boiling 
heat—and has a peculiar taste and smell—something 
like what would be the washings of a gunbarrel. The 
farmers in the neighbourhood have cut an aqueduct 
down to the level of the water, and lead a 4 flow ’ from it 
for some miles to irrigate their cornfields. The water 
becomes cool before running very far along the water¬ 
course and is then found to be very fertilising to the 
growing crops. 
This extraordinary hot-spring or underground lake 
is not far from the Orange River, but its level must be 
some hundreds of feet above the bed of the river. It 
is now a part of the Cape Colony, and the water is con¬ 
ducted into the town of Aliwal North, which is a fast¬ 
rising place, and destined in the future to be a great 
