way to the Interior, I naturally endeavoured to form, in my own
mind, some picture of i t ; and I know not by what mistake it arose,
that I should conceive the idea of its being a picturesque spot surrounded
by trees and gardens, with a river running through a neat
village, where a tall church stood, a distant beacon to mark that
Christianity had advanced thus far into the wilds of Africa. But
the first glance now convinced me how false may oftentimes be the
notions which men,, form of what they have not seen. The trees
of my imagination vanished, leaving nothing in reality but a few
which the missionaries themselves had planted; the church sunk
to a barn-like building of reeds and mud; the village was merely
a row of half a dozen reed cottages; the river was but a rill; and
the situation an open, bare, and exposed place, without any appearance
of a garden, excepting that of the missionaries.
It would be very unfair towards those who have devoted themselves
to a residence in a country, where they are cut off from
communication with civilized society, and deprived of all its comforts,
to attribute this low state of civilization and outward improvement,
to a want of solicitude on their part. Their continual complaint,
indeed, was of the laziness of the Hottentots, and of the great
difficulty there had always been in persuading them to work, either
on the buildings or in the garden; and in this complaint there was
too much truth.
My disappointment at the appearance of the place arose from
expecting, perhaps, too much. Yet, notwithstanding its discouraging
appearance, this colony of Hottentots, and its different outposts,
is a field in which the seeds of civilization and religion may be sown
with a probability of success; but I will not say that this is to be
accomplished without expense, or without the employment of proper
and reasonable means, and the adopting of some plan grounded on a
knowledge of human nature.
Our whole party being now finally assembled at the termination
of our long journey,- we all, on this occasion, dined together; and
the school-room was found to be the only place large enough for the
purpose. A dinner that would have become a table in Cape Town,
was served up; and two or three Hottentot women, who formed
part of their domestic establishment, waited on us in a very attentive
and proper manner. The circumstance of our being the only white
people in this part of the world, and all seated round the same table,
together with the idea of our being in the heart of a wilderness, and
surrounded only by savage nations, created in me some peculiar
feelings, and a strange interest in every thing that was passing, and
in all that I saw about me.
A small tent, which had been found an unnecessary part of
their baggage, and was left here by the travellers sent into the
interior by Lord Caledon, was lent me by the missionaries ; but the
ground by the waggons was so rocky, that it was with difficulty it
could be pitched. It was found more convenient to sleep in the
waggon than in the ten t; which, to those who travel as I did,
would prove much more to be an incumbrance than an article of
utility,
2nd. The first affair of importance to be attended to, was that
of providing for the recovery of my oxen, which were miserably thin
and weak, and quite unable to do any work for at least a couple of
months, as their feet were worn tender by the ruggedness of the
stony roads, and their strength had been quite exhausted by the
labor and hardships of the journey. In the neighbourhood of the
village there was, at this season, hardly pasturage enough for a few
cows and sheep ; and it was, therefore, advised to send them to a
place called Elands Valley, or Elands Fountain, one of the outposts of
the settlement, where, it was said, they would find more grass than
could any where else be met with at this time. An old friendly
Hottentot, named Hans Lucas, who had been one of our caravan
from the Karree River, and was now residing at Elands Valley,
offered, in that case, to befriend and advise my herdsman. I therefore
resolved to send the oxen to that place, under the care of SpeeL
man, whom I now began to value as a useful, clever, and active
servant, and one who might be trusted, as he seemed to take a
cordial interest in the business of the journey. His wife, Hannah,
had not gained so much on my good opinion; and the little work
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