or
two in height instead of in a furrow. A deep transverse cutting made
through the higher part of this is rewarded by a stream of running
water. The reason why the ground covering this water is higher than the
rest of the locality is that the winds carry quantities of fine dust and
sand about the country, and hedges, bushes, and trees cause its deposit.
The rushes in this case perform the part of the hedges, and the moisture
rising as dew by night fixes the sand securely among the roots, and a
height, instead of a hollow, is the result. While on this subject it may
be added that there is no perennial fountain in this part of the
country except those that come from beneath the quartzose trap, which
constitutes the "filling up" of the ancient valley; and as the water
supply seems to rest on the old silurian schists which form its bottom,
it is highly probable that Artesian wells would in several places
perform the part which these deep cuttings now do.

The aspect of this part of the country during most of the year is of a
light yellow color; for some months during the rainy season it is of a
pleasant green mixed with yellow. Ranges of hills appear in the west,
but east of them we find hundreds of miles of grass-covered plains.
Large patches of these flats are covered with white calcareous tufa
resting on perfectly horizontal strata of trap. There the vegetation
consists of fine grass growing in tufts among low bushes of the
"wait-a-bit" thorn ('Acacia detinens'), with its annoying fish-hook-like
spines. Where these rocks do not appear on the surface, the soil
consists of yellow sand and tall, coarse grasses, growing among
berry-yielding bushes, named moretloa ('Grewia flava') and mohatla
('Tarchonanthus'), which has enough of aromatic resinous matter to burn
brightly, though perfectly green. In more sheltered spots we come
on clumps of the white-thorned mimosa ('Acacia horrida', also 'A.
atomiphylla'), and great abundance of wild sage ('Salvia Africana'), and
various leguminosae, ixias, and large-flowering bulbs: the 'Amaryllis
toxicaria' and 'A. Brunsvigia multiflora' (the former a poisonous bulb)
yield in the decayed lamellae a soft, silky down, a good material for
stuffing mattresses.

In some few parts of the country the remains of ancient forests of wild
olive-trees ('Olea similis') and of the camel-thorn ('Acacia giraffe')
are still to be met with; but when these are leveled in the proximity of
a Bechuana villa