518 
Messrs. R. B. & J. D. S. Woodward on 
extends over low hills and swampy valleys, and, being 
unhealthy, is thinly populated, the native kraals being on 
the outskirts. We did not find it a good locality for birds, 
and although it was the spring of the year, we heard no new 
notes, and even the commoner species were not plentiful. 
We obtained here, however, a specimen of the Pileated Fran- 
colin (Falco pileatus ), which we had not met with before. 
After a short stay here we went on, passing through a 
grassy country interspersed with " pans ” or shallow sheets 
of fresh water, often covered with the blue lotus, which filled 
the air with its sweet scent, and other aquatic plants, and 
bordered with rushes—the larger ponds being visited by 
waterfowl in considerable numbers. 
On November 8th we reached St. Lucia Lake, near its 
southern end, where we found the water so shallow that we 
were able to wade right across it, though this was rather a 
tedious process, it being a mile broad at this point. As 
there was a considerable deposit of mud, we left our wagon 
on the bank and took our things over by bearers. When 
the water is deep a boat is used. 
The country we wished to explore lay between the lake 
and the sea—a strip of land about four miles broad, but 
increasing in width towards the northern end. We found 
the land here more elevated and diversified, with several 
sand-hills of considerable height. Mr. Feyling has a Mission 
Station in this locality : he has not been long here, but finds 
the climate more healthy than the inland side of the lake. 
He was engaged in building a new house, commanding a fine 
view of the ocean on one side and the lake on the other. 
This was constructed chiefly of timber from a large barque 
that had been wrecked on the coast. This gentleman 
informed us that he had shot a specimen of the Spoonbill 
(.Platalea alba) on the lake, but that it appeared to be rare. 
After stopping about a fortnight in this neighbourhood, 
which consists principally of grassy hills interspersed with 
clumps of low bush, with the aid of the missionary's cart, 
which was drawn by a span of donkeys, we moved about ten 
miles further up the coast, where there is an extensive forest 
