‘ to believe is spoken over a very large extent of country. I have
f engaged a native for this purpose alone. I have not yet .seen a
| Camelopardalis, though I have made two or three meals from one.
H Did any one in Cape Town observe a comet which 1 first perceived
‘ on the 30th of October, near the constellation Lyra ? By the 20th
‘ of November it was so near to the sun that it was no longer
‘ visible. When I first saw it, I was high up the Vaal river, away
‘ from the rest of my party, with one of my waggons, on a hippo-
‘ potamus hunt, when we shot two of those animals, and saw many
I more. During this part of my excursion, I had no other bed than
‘ the bank of the river, nor other covering at night than the sky,
‘ yet I experienced not the least inconvenience from it. My only
‘ food was ‘ karbonadjes’ of hippopotamus, without bread or salt.
‘ The scenery here was picturesque, the river a very fine stream; and
‘ it will be long before I forget the contemplative solitary rambles
‘ I often took along its banks. The Bushmen slept on the ground
‘ every night close by us, and were happy at the rencontre, as we
‘ loaded each of-them with as much meat as he could carry away.
i I should have been happy then, at having a companion by me to
I participate in the pleasure these scenes gave me. The smooth
‘ glassy surface of the river, which reflected like a mirror the beau-
‘ tiful thick trees that clothed each bank; the notes of a multitude
‘ of strange birds among their branches; the Bushmen busy in dry-
1 ing their share of the meat -, and the serenity of the atmosphere,
‘ added to the tranquillity that reigned around us ; made a delight-
‘ fill impression on my mind. I look forward to much enjoyment in
‘ the future part of my journey ; and am convinced that, for a mind
‘ susceptible of that pleasure which the contemplation of Nature
i affords, nothing can give greater gratification than such an expedi-
‘ tion as this. And if it must be so, that I am to return to Cape
‘ Town, I shall then renew these pleasures by relating to you more
‘ fully what I have seen.’
My packet, which, besides seven letters of my own, contained
four belonging to the missionaries, was addressed to the Landdrost
of Tulbagh, to be forwarded by the Field-cornet Gerrit Maritz; and
was now given in charge to a Hottentot, named Titus. Having in a
former part of my journal (page 250), noticed the shameful neglect
and loss of a package which I sent from the Boggeveld, it is but just
that I should record the due arrival of this, and my thanks to every
one by whose hands it was forwarded. The degree of sanctity in
which packages committed to their charge, and sealed letters, are
held, is often no bad criterion of men’s probity.
15th. The rainy season had at length commenced, and, within
the preceding six days a great quantity of water had fallen. The surprising
change of the atmosphere, from the utmost degree of dryness
to the opposite extreme of moisture, may be easily estimated from the
fact, that common salt left standing in a plate in the waggon, entirely
deliquesced in the course of the night.
I had never experienced any thing mdre refreshing than this
alteration of weather, after so long a drought. That constant
languor which I had lately suffered from intense heat, vanished at
once, and was succeeded by the most- agreeable sensations, inspiring
an unusual cheerfulness. I know not how to account for the great
change it produced, not only in my bodily feelings, but even in those
of my mind. My nerves and muscles thus braced and invigorated,
I fancied that I possessed the strength to walk the whole length of
Africa. Impatient of inactivity, I longed again to roam over boundless
plains, or climb the lofty mountain ; all my troubles and difficulties
retired to the furthest distance, where I viewed them diminished
almost to nothing. Rapt in this musing, delightful mood, methought
a beneficent deity of refulgent lustre, and countenance of inexpressible
benignity, advanced towards me, and whispered softly in my ear,
that sweet word L iberty : which repeating, till it thrilled in every
nerve, the celestial being seemed to say; Follow me. And where,
indeed, could I have obeyed the enticing summons, so easily and
uncontrolled as in the wild regions before me ? For some time I
allowed myself full indulgence in these pleasing reflections. By subsequent
experience, I have learnt that the delightful sensation of
unshackled existence could never be recalled, after I had re-entered
3 u 2