DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4719#0206
TELMESSTJS TO STEATONICEIA,
185
IX.
i hoi m Dm
~*« Tnm-
nira
.e left, I
-■ •: . •
-
lone, maci cdomft
ihkh tefe
Ibafe *>
nigh, and *
bloom, as is also the wild sage. The heath is almost a tree,
being ten feet high, with a stem as thick as my arm. I see
a great number of plants with a white leaf, like flannel, which
grows as luxuriantly as the acanthus, but none are yet in
bloom #. On all the mountains in this district the scarlet
lichen clothes the rocks.
My collection of birds has received an addition to-day in
the bee-eater, of which we have shot several specimens; its
plumage is beautiful. The bees make their nests upon the
turpentine firs, which cover the hills, and from which they
gather much honey; and these birds follow them in flocks,
flying very quickly, making a loud clear chirp while on the
wing, like starlings, but more sonorous, and generally set-
tling upon the fir-trees. Hitherto the magpies have been in
such numbers as to annoy us; I have counted thirty or forty
together. The common jay gradually succeeded them; and
now the most frequent bird, which is scarcely ever out of
hearing, is the beautiful blue jay or roller, amusing us con-
stantly by making somersets in the air like the tumbler
pigeon. I have seen the common brown partridge today for
the first time.
April 25th.—We are now at Koogez, twenty-five miles
further to the north-west, and on the way towards Moola.
I am perfectly lost in the maps, which have no resemblance
to the country either in form, rivers, or names of places.
On leaving Dollomdn, after crossing one very large and an-
other small river, we ascended a considerable mountain, and
by two o'clock looked down upon a splendid lake, or rather
bay, for the water is brackish, a neck twelve miles in length
connecting it with the sea; it is six or eight miles across,
and a number of small streams run into it, but no river
of any name. I observed up these streams, at perhaps
six or eight miles' distance from the brackish water, the
* Salvia sethiopis.
185
IX.
i hoi m Dm
~*« Tnm-
nira
.e left, I
-■ •: . •
-
lone, maci cdomft
ihkh tefe
Ibafe *>
nigh, and *
bloom, as is also the wild sage. The heath is almost a tree,
being ten feet high, with a stem as thick as my arm. I see
a great number of plants with a white leaf, like flannel, which
grows as luxuriantly as the acanthus, but none are yet in
bloom #. On all the mountains in this district the scarlet
lichen clothes the rocks.
My collection of birds has received an addition to-day in
the bee-eater, of which we have shot several specimens; its
plumage is beautiful. The bees make their nests upon the
turpentine firs, which cover the hills, and from which they
gather much honey; and these birds follow them in flocks,
flying very quickly, making a loud clear chirp while on the
wing, like starlings, but more sonorous, and generally set-
tling upon the fir-trees. Hitherto the magpies have been in
such numbers as to annoy us; I have counted thirty or forty
together. The common jay gradually succeeded them; and
now the most frequent bird, which is scarcely ever out of
hearing, is the beautiful blue jay or roller, amusing us con-
stantly by making somersets in the air like the tumbler
pigeon. I have seen the common brown partridge today for
the first time.
April 25th.—We are now at Koogez, twenty-five miles
further to the north-west, and on the way towards Moola.
I am perfectly lost in the maps, which have no resemblance
to the country either in form, rivers, or names of places.
On leaving Dollomdn, after crossing one very large and an-
other small river, we ascended a considerable mountain, and
by two o'clock looked down upon a splendid lake, or rather
bay, for the water is brackish, a neck twelve miles in length
connecting it with the sea; it is six or eight miles across,
and a number of small streams run into it, but no river
of any name. I observed up these streams, at perhaps
six or eight miles' distance from the brackish water, the
* Salvia sethiopis.