having asserted that it was all expended, although not more than an
eighth-part of it had been actually used, he sent for him, and required
that he should account for it according to agreement. But this
he peremptorily refused to do ; and, declaring himself offended at
the missionary for asking it, threatened that he would live at Klaar-
water no longer j but, as soon as he returned home, would immediately
collect together all his cattle, and withdraw to some other spot.
About a week before we left Klaarwater, Mr. Jansz had furnished
him with gunpowder and lead; but for which no game at ill
was ever returned; and for the half of a sea-cow, which, on the same
conditions, was soon afterwards due to him from the Klaarwater
Captain, Adam Kok, he received a quantity equal only to a fourth
of what was retained by Kok. In the same manner, I had, on this
excursion, given ammunition to another Hottentot, who satisfied his
conscience with giving me the half of a large bird; and on the next day
after he had told me that all was expended, he shot a quakka with
his own powder, although he had no means of getting a grain excepting
that which he had received from me. I had given also a
large quantity to Hans Lucas, who, in this particular, I found no
better than the rest of his associates: this produced nothing for m e :
yet he, also, with his own powder, had managed to procure for himself
a tolerably large stock of dried meat Such is the value of
gunpowder here, that these people are tempted to obtain it by every,
and any, means ; which shows, that, if a traveller could be supposed
to have any to spare, he might readily purchase with it whatever
they possessed. .
8th. The weather was at this time excessively h o t; and to day the
thermometer rose to 100£ (30-4 Reaum. 38-3 Centig.) With respect
to thermometers, a fatality seemed to have hung over them this day
by an accident, the one I had in use, fell and was broken ; and hardly
was its place supplied by another, when that also met with a similar
fate. Having no other instrument, all further observations were
therefore interrupted till I returned to Klaarwater; when I was
obliged to request Mr. Anderson to return me the one I had presented
to him soon after my first arrival there. And in order to
replace this, another was afterwards sent to Klaarwater from Cape
Town j as a regular series of meteorological observations, made for
several years at a spot so far inland, would be exceedingly interesting.
And it is hoped that missionaries in every country, when their
profession calls them to distant regions, seldom frequented by scientific
observers, will not think it unnecessary to transmit to Europe
the many valuable facts which they must have daily opportunities
of learning and verifying. So that, in the event of their failing to
convert the Heathen, some useful information, at least, may result
from their labors.
Notwithstanding the great heat of the day, I could not allow so
favorable an opportunity to. pass by, as the clearness of the sky and
stillness of the air offered, for observations for the longitude; and
I took a set of nine distances of the sun from the moon, for this
purpose. I had already by the altitude of the star Algenib ascertained
the latitude to be 29° 0' 21J" South. *
9th. During the last seventeen days, not a drop of rain had fallen ;
and, therefore, a thunder shower this evening, after a day hotter even
than yesterday, was a delightful refreshing to the animal, as well as
vegetable, creation. Our clothes in such weather felt oppressive;
and, to relieve themselves, many of the Hottentots had been passing
the whole day in the water. But the river itself was quite warm;
and no longer afforded a cooling draught In my waggon, by throwing
open the canvass at both ends, I had always found a little more
air than in other situations ; and this contrivance rendered the overwhelming
heat rather more supportable. While every one around
rile, yielding to the enervating influence of the weather, and stretched
here and there beneath the trees, was indulging in the pleasure of
doing nothing ; the care of preserving, and making notes of, my daily-
increasing collections, and the never-ceasing business of recording
my observations, kept me at all times more than fully employed,
* 1st Nov. 1811, at'the confluence of the Ky-gar'icp, and Maap, the observed meridional
altitude of y Pegasi was 46° 52' 19".