nion: they coupled the comet, which had been seen every night since
the 12th of the foregoing month, and the earthquake together, and
drew from this two-fold portentous sign, the certain prognostics of
the annihilation of the Cape.
This event gave me the first opportunity of knowing, from experience,
something of the operation and effects of an effort of nature,
regarded by all as formidable, but which, by the superstitious, is
viewed as the manifestation of supernatural agency. But its true nature
becomes, in every succeeding generation, more generally understood
as the result of laws established by the Divine Power at the creation.
The night passed over undisturbed; and on the following day
there was no other difference perceptible in the state of the atmosphere,
than that of its being much less loaded with hazy vapor.
The sun, shone. bright and pleasant; the universal fear, by degrees,
subsided; each one resumed his usual occupation, and business and
money-making began, as heretofore, to animate every nerve, and
to occupy every thought.
8th. Jan Tamboer still continued in the hospital very ill; and
it was the surgeon’s opinion, that there was little likelihood of his
being able to undertake the journey. This was a serious disappointment,
and not a trifling derangement of my plans; but it gave
to the Colonel an opportunity of proving his readiness to oblige:
for, on learning the circumstance, he directed enquiry to be made in
the regiment, for any other Hottentot who might possess the requisite
qualifications; and, by good fortune, one was found, who not
only had been used to the management of a waggon and oxen, but
who had formerly made a journey beyond the Gariep, into the
country of the Bachapins.
This man instantly accepted the offered appointment, overjoyed
at exchanging a military life for one so much more congenial to his
inclinations. Having neither family nor possessions, nor, indeed,
any property at all; which he would be under the necessity of leaving
unprotected, he was ready to start at a moment’s notice; and, as
soon as he had received the trifling arrears of his pay, together with
a furlough for twelve months, renewable from time to time, he bade
farewell to his comrades, many of whom would gladly have followed
him, and hastened away to take possession of his new office.
His name was Philip Willems. He was of small and compact
figure, not above five feet high, steady and measured in his motions;
of a countenance possessing somewhat of a melancholy cast, and of a
complexion rather darker than the generality of his nation. He was,
however, a genuine Hottentot, and seemed to be about thirty years
of age. His nose was very much depressed, so that the mouth or
lips projected beyond i t ; and the chin was narrow, and cheek-bones
high, like all of his race; but the forehead had a good elevation.
His. hair, which had been lately cut, resembled nothing more than
very small tufts of black wool, sprinkled over the skull so thinly,
that the bare skin might be seen between them. He had scarcely
any beard, excepting on the upper lip, where it was short and
woolly. His eyes would be considered small, if measured by European
proportions, but were rather large for a Hottentot: they
exhibited a good deal of animation, the pupils being of a bright
black, although the surrounding part of the ball was of a yellowish
white. He seemed on this occasion to possess some vivacity and
shrewdness ; and I readily allowed myself to believe that I had now
hired a man on whose qualifications and fidelity I might rely.
I appointed him to be the foreman of the party, as well as the
driver of my waggon; a post of dignity with which he appeared
much pleased. After examining every particular part of the waggon
with the same ceremony and attention as had been done by Magers
and Jan Kok, he set himself to work to put the various apparatus in
readiness for travelling.
His uniform, musket, and accoutrements having been given up
to the regiment, my first care was to clothe him, and furnish him
with bedding. Amongst the different articles of his equipment, he
was most proud of a large watch-coat, in which, I believe, he fancied
that he looked as big and important as a Dutch boor.
I commissioned him to make enquiry among the Hottentots
of his acquaintance, for the number of men still wanting to make up
Y