actuated by friendly sentiments, as I assured him that they were
brought for no other purpose than to benefit the Bachapin nation by
introducing into their country a useful fruit which it had never before
possessed.
He then gave them to the care of his principal herdsman who
was standing by, and whom he always treated as an equal; or, at
least, behaved towards him with as much attention and familiarity as
towards the richest or highest of his Icosies or chieftains. This man
had filled the same office under the late Chief Mulihaban.
I had still in my waggon some dried peaches remaining, and
with a view of giving him a foretaste of the fruit, to induce him to
take more care of the young trees, I afterwards prepared a small
quantity, by first softening them in water, and then adding some
sugar and a little salt of lemons, to regain the flavour which they
had lost. He greatly approved of the taste of these; and, contrary
to his general custom when in public, of giving a small portion of
such things to those who sat by him, he ate the whole himself, excepting
a piece which he gave to his uncle.
As if prompted by a rising sense of gratitude, Mattivi said he
should never come and tease me for tobacco as other people did;
but would always wait till I gave him some, of my own accord.
This was so handsome a speech, and so becoming the dignity of
a monarch, that, with princely liberality, I immediately presented him
with a pipe of tobacco.
30th. There being at this time but little game in the vicinity of
the town, the difficulty of obtaining provisions reduced me to the
necessity of giving up for the supply of my people, one of the oxen
received from Mattivi, and which, otherwise, was intended for the
team. We had now but one sheep remaining, and this it was prudent
to reserve till want of candles, should compel us to kill it for
the sake of the tallow and fat; which, while they were on the animal,
were safe, but which otherwise would soon have been stolen or consumed.
Our meat had been so often secretly carried off' by the
natives who frequented our hut, that we were constrained to complain
to the Chief: he then gave some general reprimand, and we
were, in consequence, not so much molested ; but as we could no
longer trust our provisions in the baggage-waggon where we had
been used hitherto to leave them, the Hottentots were at last obliged
to keep every thing of that kind behind them in thé hut where they
were sitting.
This scarcity of provisions, and the continued state of fear in
which most of my men had been during our residence at this town,
determined me to make an excursion for three or four weeks, in order
both to gain a stock of dried meat, and to all'ow my party some
respite from their fears and some time to recover their former tone
and spirits.
To convince them, that such was my intention, I desired Gert,
who, as I have remarked, could speak the Kora dialect with tolerable
facility, to inform the Kora Captain privately, that when he and his
people left Litâkun, they should wait for me at the distance of two
or three days-journeys out of the town ; and that I would follow them
thither for the purpose of exchanging beads for some of their oxen :
but that it was requisite that this arrangement should be kept a secret
from the Bachapins, who possibly might endeavour to interrupt my
bartering with them. This proposal afforded him much satisfaction,
and was gladly accepted.
Mattivi possessed a large share of that species of cunning which
is peculiar to low and little minds, and which often has, upon the
unwary, its intended effect. As I had seldom shown myself very
credulous of tales fabricated from such materials, he considered that
they would more easily operate upon my Hottentots, than upon
myself ; and, therefore, frequently intermingled information of this
nature, in his conversations with them, as he sat by their fire in the
evenings.
It was with the view of deterring me from attempting to travel
into the country of the Nuakketsies, that he informed my men that
the three people of that tribe, who lately visited Litâkun under
pretence of bartering, were, in reality, only sent as spies, and detached
from that body of robbers who had carried off the cattle from the
three out-posts ; that their object was to ascertain who the white-man
v o l. ii . 3 n