bound to be obedient and to do the duty to which I thought proper
to appoint him ; and that, let the consequences be what they might,
I was resolved that my men should obey me. Seeing therefore no
prospect of gaining the mastery by intimidation, he made no further
reply, but walked quietly away.
I afterwards took an opportunity of talking to Speelman, who,
I knew, disapproved of his conduct and reprobated his uselessness.
I desired him to advise the other to be cautious in his behaviour,
never in future to attempt resistance to his master; and to tell him
that I recommended him, as he had learnt to read, to look frequently
over the written agreement by which he was engaged in my service,
and to conform to what was there stated to be his duty ; and that he
and all the rest of my men might know that if I required of them any
unreasonable service or acted unjustly towards them, I was amenable
to authorities in the Colony as much as they were; but that, as long
as we were wandering in a country where unanimity was necessary to
our safety, I would be obeyed; and that it should be perilous for any
man of them to resist my orders.
Thus ended one of the most turbulent days which I had
experienced since the commencement of my journey.
24th. On the next day Cornells came in a respectful manner to
ask for some leather, that he might make himself a pair of shoes; all
Hottentots generally, being their own shoemakers. He begged that
he might be allowed to remain at home to make them, and that I
would in the mean time appoint some one in his place, to attend the
oxen till his shoes were ready.
Although this seemed to wear some little appearance of being
only a plea for deferring an open submission to my former regulation,
yet, as I. considered his refractory spirit as now subdued, I gave
him immediately what he asked for. I took this opportunity of
calmly admonishing him against disobedience, and of advising him,
as well as the others, that, if they thought a reasonable objection
existed against any orders which I might issue, they should rather
represent the case to me in a respectful manner, when they might be
assured that I should always be ready to listen, and, that if their
representations were just, I should suffer myself to be guided by
them. He then voluntarily confessed that the words which he had
yesterday made use of, were uttered in haste and without reflection,
and that he now felt sorry at having expressed himself in so unbecoming
a manner.
MolMmmi, who had long resisted my solicitations to sit for his
portrait, was this morning prevailed on by the offer of a quantity of
tobacco, to grant my request.
This being the first portrait which I had drawn at Litakun, it
was fortunate that I succeeded in obtaining a strong likeness, as the
circumstance made a very favorable impression on the natives and
pleased them excessively. As soon as it was known, for he immediately
went and told every body what I had done, every one
crowded to see it. Mattivi came smiling, and calling out, Akkui bon!
(Let me see!): and after his first surprise was over, he exclaimed,
Singke! Singke! (Very pretty! Very w ell!) But the astonishment
of the crowd, on seeing Mollemmi in a book, is not very easily to be
described; nor perhaps imagined, without having been witnessed.
They fixed their eyes on it with a degree of attention which
seemed to give to their countenances an expression not very unlike
that of fear. It was evident that so strange and unexpected a
sight, absorbed all their thoughts; till, on taking their eyes off the
drawing and turning to their companions, they burst into laughter
and expressed their surprise and delight in a variety of modes,
all equally comic. Their quickness in comprehending a hasty uncoloured
drawing, for I was obliged to complete it in a quarter of
an hour, and in discovering at the first glance the meaning of every
line, gave me a favourable opinion of their discernment.
Having remarked, when I paid the visit to Serrakutu, that the
view of Litakun seen from a spot close to his mootsi, comprised
enough of the general character of the scenery to give a good idea of
the nature and appearance of the town, I again took a walk thither,
for the purpose of making a drawing of it ; and which forms the
subject of the sixth plate.
As I now began to consider Juli as more faithfully attached to