land under tillage is much less than it ought to be, considering the
facilities of the country and their own necessities; and it can
hardly be said that during the preceding six years, the number of
cultivated acres has been increased : to justify which, it was complained
that in some places the ground has been found on trial, to be
of too saline a quality.
The garden belonging to the missionaries, contained about an
acre, or more, of very good soil; and was enclosed from the edge
of the mead, by banks of earth and a hedge of dead bushes. A rill
of water was led through it for the purpose of irrigation; and every
thing appeared in a thriving state. I saw in it a few trees of peach,
almond, fig, vine, and walnut, together with a young orange-tree; all,
excepting the two last, were just beginning to yield fruit. The peach
trees were in the most luxuriant growth, and seemed to promise a
plentiful crop ; but a late frost, which happened on the 6th of October
while the fruit was just forming, caused the whole to drop off
prematurely.
Some seeds of cotton, which I had brought with me to Africa,
for the purpose of sowing them at different convenient places in the
Interior, were planted in this garden. Several plants came up from
them, and, as in January 1813, I saw it in flower, I have no doubt
that they afterwards produced good seed. .
Of esculent vegetables, I saw small quantities of potatoes, cabbage,
French-beans, peas, lettuce, onions, beet, cucumbers, pumkins, calabash,
musk-melons, water-melons, millet, and some others. The common
hemp, called dakka, was here raised for the purpose of being
given as presents to the Bushmen, who smoke it instead of tobacco ;
as do also many of the Hottentots; but it is considered more deleterious
and inebriating.
Maize, or Indian corn, was cultivated for the poultry; but the
half-ripe heads, when boiled, made a very agreeable and wholesome
dish. When their store of coffee became low, the ripe grains, roasted
and ground, were mixed with i t ; but the beverage made from this
mixture, though not unpleasant to the taste, had a heating quality
which would not agree with every stomach. This corn, sowed in
the first week of October, came in flower before the middle of
December.
The dwellings of the missionaries stand close together in a line
with the meeting-house, forming, with two others in a parallel line, a
kind of street, in the middle of which stood, at this time, a stuffed
camelopard, which, being much weather-beaten and decayed, was
soon afterwards taken down. This object, reminding me that I was
in the country where these animals were to be beheld alive, added a
pleasing and very interesting feature to this little village.
The only piece of masonry was the foundations of a large building,
intended to comprise under one roof a meeting-house and the
dwellings of the missionaries; but its only use is to prove that a
plan of rendering the mission respectable in its appearance was once
entertained. It was commenced, I believe, about seven years before
my visit to Klaarwater, and was carried on with spirit by the united
labor of the whole community, until the walls reached the height of
five or six feet; and in this state it has remained ever since, and
still continues, without any prospect of being completed. This
neglect is attributed to the temper of the Hottentots, who, like
children pleased with a new toy, which is soon thrown aside, at first
laboured readily at the work, and would not have deserted it if
three or four months could have brought it to a conclusion; but
finding, after the novelty of the job had worn off, that nothing was
left but hard labor', their little stock of exertion* and patience became
exhausted, and the thing was given up as an undertaking of too
great a magnitude. There was no want of materials; since their
mortar was obtained close at hand, being merely mud, and the
adjoining hill • supplied the . stone, which was formed by nature of
shapes the best adapted for masonry: while timber might easily be
procured from the banks of the Gariep, or even much nearer. The
business of sawing planks has not yet been introduced here; but
two or three people work as blacksmiths, although in a very
bungling manner.
The only means of Tendering this mission permanent* is to
induce these people to acquire property in immoveable buildings,