would not put that establishment to any expense, it is very probable
that the public would soon be gratified with a sight of them.
His numerous adventures, hair-breadth escapes, and observations
on men and manners, would form a pretty thick quarto, if dished up
in good language, by some writer acquainted with the art of book-
making, and published by a bookseller at the West end of the Town;
at the same time taking care to have it properly recommended in the
Quarterly Review.. Although Wantrouw had not the least notion of
drawing, yet a few coloured aquatinta plates, or lithographic prints,
should, by all means, be inserted; these, his publisher could easily get
designed by some artist, who must be told to take especial care that
the words Wantrouw delineavit, or, From a sketch, by Wantrouw, Esq.
appear conspicuous at the bottom corner. Such a work, if rightly
and humbly dedicated, and well advertised, would be sure to sell.
As, however, there seems at present to be no probability that
the learned world will soon be gratified with the perusal of his work,
so many books of travels having lately issued from the press, and
those authors who are in the habit of making up books, having their
hands at this time quite full of work, I have obtained his permission
to insert, occasionally, in my own journal, a few of the anecdotes
preserved amongst his memoranda, together with some of his
principal adventures; because, as he very learnedly and justly
remarked,
mea nemo
Scripta legat, vulgo recitare timentis, ob hanc rem,
Quod sunt, quos genus hocminime juvat; utpote plures
Culpari dignos.
Museum, are deprived of the gratification and instruction which they might derive from
a view of these animals, but because a knowledge of the fact will tend to discourage
others from hereafter becoming donors to an establishment where their presents will
meet with neglect. At the time when these animals were presented, the Museum exhibited
scarcely any thing in this department of Natural History; a circumstance which
led me to suppose that forty-three quadrupeds of such magnitude, obtained not without
considerable expense and personal danger, nor without a degree of trouble which no
one but myself can duly estimate, and among which were many extremely rare, and
sojtfe never before seen in Europe, were an addition deserving of attention.
How he could become acquainted with the language of
Horace, it is not easy to imagine; since he never had the benefit
of a residence at any of the universities. But so it was. Sed ego
Nunc itaque, et versus, et ccetera ludicra, pono.
We had travelled not more than a dozen miles, when an accident
happening to one of the wheels of the captain’s waggon, we
were obliged to halt, and unyoke; while a man on horseback was
sent back to the kraal, for some iron work to replace that which was
broken.M
ost of the Hottentots’ waggons were in so shattered and
ricketty a state, as to occasion us to entertain serious apprehensions
that some of them would drop to pieces in the attempt
at passing the rocky places which traversed our course. Thongs
of raw hide, bound about various parts, constituted their chief
strength; and on them, the owners placed their principal dependence,
for keeping the crazy vehicle together. One waggon,
however, was quite new, and the same which had been offered
at the Asbestos mountains, in exchange for mine. Its proprietor
often put the strength of it on trial, by driving with surprising
heedlessness over rocks and holes and every thing that lay
in his way.
All around us, here, was barren and without water or pasture ;
and thus to be delayed above three hours in such a spot, was sufficiently
vexatious. I had not even the amusement of picking up a
few flowers, but as we carried water in the waggons, a fire was
lighted, and the teakettle soon made to boil: the heat of the day
rendering this refreshing drink not only a luxury, but even a
necessary.
The want of water made it impossible to pass the night at this
place ; and, though the evening was drawing fast upon us, before the
accident was rectified, we set out again. The country was exceedingly
rocky, but at intervals covered with bushes nearly eight feet
high, with intervening spaces of grass. The surface, in many places,
3 D