five inches in diameter, had been cut or ground, very regularly to
a round form, and perforated with a hole large enough to receive
the stick and a wedge by which it was fixed in its place. A figure
of the “ digging-stick'" may be seen at the end of the chapter.
These two men, seeing that others of their countrymen were
in our company, approached us without fear, and were in all respects
friendly. We rejoiced at these symptoms of confidence, and I was
mindful to profit by every opportunity of confirming them, that they
might be induced to report favorably of us at their return to their
homes. I gave them food, of which they seemed to be much in
need; and gratified them not less by a present of a small quantity of
dakka.B
ut I found it not so easy to gain the good-will of the children,
as of their parents ; for, wishing by caresses to please one of them,
I offered it a biscuit, but looking for an instant in my face, it
turned away in fright and cried most sadly ; nor could the mother,
who seemed much pleased by my taking notice of her child, overcome"
the poor little infant’s terror at the sight of a white-man ; a terror of
which we may sometimes behold the counterpart with English
children when they are caressed by a black. To me these infants
were interesting, from their small and delicate make, and their innocent
playfulness. Even their crying was not disgusting, because
it had not the tone of petulance or vulgarity: but this may be easily
accounted for; their tempers had certainly not been spoilt by over-
indulgence.
In compassion to our oxen, horse, and sheep, we rested six
hours at Freshwater Halt, that they might be sufficiently recruited
by the wholesome water and pasture; as we knew not whether they
would meet with the same good fortune at our next station.
In the afternoon we resumed our journey, still over a plain
without either eminence or hollow, or any visible termination
either on our left hand or before us. In this pathless expanse,
we advanced as a ship on the ocean; and, to keep my party from
wandering from the right course, I steered in a direct line, by selecting
two bushes ahead of us, and keeping them both in one, till we
came up nearly to the first, and then in the same manner selecting
another beyond the second : thus continuing, from point to point as
we advanced, taking a fresh object farther onwards.
Our average rate of travelling, during the whole of this journey,
was proved to be three miles and a half in the hour. Not venturing,
from fear of accident, to take my sextant on this expedition to the
Colony, 1 have had only the bearings and estimated distances to guide
me in laying down this part of my track on the map. But having
travelled twice over the same ground, and taken the bearings and
distances, on my return as well as at this tim e; and having, as fixed
and determined points at each end, the Kloof Village in the Asbestos
Mountains, and the village of Graaffreynet, I am inclined to think
that the positions assigned to my stations are not far from the truth.
And although I had not the advantage of ascertaining our rate of
travelling, by the revolutions of the wheel of my waggon, as already
explained*; yet having assumed a certain proportional scale of
hours, making occasional allowance for an accelerated or a retarded
rate, I each evening carefully plotted on paper the route of the
day; and this proportional survey being finally laid down between
the true latitudes of those two extreme points, it is evident that the
situations of the intermediate places cannot be very erroneous.
The surface of this plain was composed of good loamy soil,
generally covered with shrubs two feet high, but varied with frequent
extensive patches of grass, and sometimes with bushes of Lycium
which were of a greater height than any of the other shrubs.
Plants of that singular genus Stapelia were here and there observed;
particularly one with large flowers of a blackish-red color, and
another with yellow flowers growing in lateral umbels. Hares were
seen during this day’s ride; and many quakhas were perceived grazing
at a distance.
At sunset we ended the day’s journey, and took up our station
on the banks of the river, which we here found almost hidden by