CHAPTER IV.
JOURNEY FROM THE BORDERS OF THE COLONY, TO THE VILLAGE OF
GRAAFFREYNET.
I r o d e immediately to the house, but did not dismount, as I
expected that the master of the place, who was standing at the sheep-
fold a few yards off, would, according to colonial hospitality, as soon
as the first salutations were over, welcome me to his abode and invite
me to enter. Neither the master, however, nor his wife, ever came
near u s; but remained the whole time at the fold, evidently with the
intention of keeping away in order to avoid all communication. But
two men of the family, and several women and children, came and
stood round me : their complexion struck me as unpleasantly fair and
colorless, their features as disagreeably sharp, and the expression of
their countenances, as wild and senseless. How much of this singular
impression, was to be attributed to my having been for several months
accustomed to Hottentot and Bushman features and complexion, and
to my having seen none but two or three sun-burnt white people; or,
how far it was occasioned by any peculiarity in the appearance of this
family, I cannot determine exactly; but it was certainly the effect of
both: for, on comparison with those whom we afterwards saw at other
houses on our road, these women were insipidly fair, and rendered
therefore the more remarkable by the contrast of strong black eyebrows.
To this, both in them and in the men, was added a very
illshaped and projecting nose.
I accosted them with the usual salutations, which they slightly
and coldly returned. I inquired of them, what part of the colony I
was in, and at what farm I was arrived: to which they replied, that
the mountain (pointing to that which had been our beacon) was
Groote Tafelberg*, and the farm that of Jacob Van Wyk. f On this,
instead of an invitation to come into the house or to dismount, they
proceeded, in a tone of intolerable insolence, to put a long string of
impertinent questions. These I patiently answered; because, as I
soon began to perceive that they were perversely inclined, I conceived
it to be advisable, as a traveller desirous of beholding them in their
true colors, not to check them from giving me an undisguised display
of their natural disposition. And, with the view of leaving the first
colonists, whom we should meet, at liberty to do on this occasion,
just as their own sense of hospitality might dictate, I had, before we
came in sight of the house, strictly ordered that no one of my men
should ask for any refreshment or assistance. In answering their
numerous questions, I gave them the information, that I had left my
waggons on the other side of the ‘ Groote rimer'; that I had been three
weeks travelling through the country of the Bushmen ; and was going
to Graaffreynet to hire Hottentots. They seemed to doubt this last
A representation of Groote Tafelberg (Great Table-mountain), as viewed from the
south-east, may be seen m the preceding page. In this name, the word ‘ great’ is not to
be taken absolutely, but merely comparatively with reference to another smaller size, hereafter mentioned on the table-mountain ol 20th.
,, f j n the of this Place> a trifling mistake in engraving has escaped correction:
the shading of the mountains should have been carried a little ferther northward, so as to
have included the dwelling of Van Wyk, which now, improperly, appears to stand upon the mountains, instead of being at the foot of them.
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