my waggons at Klaarwater, which would have been left in the care
of my three Hottentots.
At last, while lamenting the great distance between Cape Town
and the place where I was, I considered that Klaarwater might be
much nearer to some other part of the colony, where I .might equally
well obtain the object of my visit. I therefore returned to my waggon,
to look over my map : and immediately fixed on thé village of
Graaffreynét.* The examining of my observations, together with
a rough computation from the course and distance out of the Colony,
satisfied me that that village lay in the direction of nearly south, at
a distance of only three degrees and a half of latitude ; and that the
Colonial boundary at Plettenberg’s Baaken was consequently considerably
nearer to us than Sack river or the Roggeveld. This,
therefore, I perceived, was the quarter where assistance ought to be
sought ; especially as the Landdrost of that district, Mr. Stockenstrom,
was a particular friend of Mr. Hesse’s ; and bore the character of
being a man of liberal mind,, which, added to the weight and
authority of the papers with which I had been furnished by the Cape
government, gave me every reasonable assurance of meeting with the
best reception.
I again walked over to the village, to communicate this second
plan to the missionary, and ask his assistance in obtaining men for
this purpose; which, being a journey into the Colony, I concluded
was not liable to those objections which had hitherto foiled my
endeavours to go forwards.
But here again I was met with nothing but the most disheartening
accounts :—that country through which I would pass was, as
he had always been told, inhabited by tribes of Bushmen the most
savage in Africa : it'was, he had every reason to believe, so mountainous
as to be quite impassable : he knew that the Klaarwater people
* This name is often written G r a a f R e in e t; but the above orthography is more
conformable to its origin. Both, however, are used in the official writings of the
Colony.
people were decidedly averse to any road being discovered in that
direction, lest the Caffres should take advantage of it, or the Dutch
farmers be tempted to come and take possession of their land ; in
fine, he did not think that I should get any body to go with me. Thus,
to every thing that was said, nothing but difficulties were started in
reply j and that this, as he candidly remarked, was a scheme, of
which, for many reasons, he could not approve.
What some of these reasons were, I afterwards learnt, both
from himself, and from his fellow missionaries: they apprehended,
that, by opening a new road to another part of the Colony, there
would be a more frequent communication and traffic with the boors,
to whom the Hottentots would be constantly selling their cattle;
that it was a disadvantage to the mission and their people to be too
dependant on the Colony, and to make such journeys often; which
would, it was feared, be the case, if they found their way to any
nearer town than the Cape or Tulbagh; and that their connection
with the Colony ought, for their own welfare, to be as slight as
possible. As far as these reasons might be meant for the advantage
and civilization of the people whom they had undertaken to instruct,
this line of policy, I am convinced, is more likely to produce a contrary
result.
But these representations, in which I did not place entire confidence,
had by no means the intended effect of discouraging me >
and I returned to my waggons, there to devise the best mode of
carrying this plan into execution. My own men were of the same
opinion as myself, that we had better undertake the journey without
the incumbrance of a waggon, which, at first, I had some idea of
taking with us ; and that we should mount ourselves on pack-oxen,
as being much more expeditious. This plan, therefore, I resolved
to adopt; as the country, which was utterly unknown to every body
at Klaarwater, might, as had been hinted, be found impassable, at
least for waggons.
6th. By supposing that we should travel all the way in nearly the
same course by the compass, and allowing ninety miles by the road,
3 y 2