remark; and asked how I could expect to hire Hottentots, when the
boors found them so scarce. I replied, that Landdrost Stockenstrom
would assist me. The landdrost, said they, was murdered by the
Caffres a few weeks ago. The apathy with which they mentioned
this, must have appeared strongly contrasted by my own expression
of the shock which I felt at the melancholy intelligence. I asked, if
it was quite certain; they briefly assured me that it was: yet still I
hoped to hear, as I advanced, that this sad news was not correct.
Thinking it possible they might suppose that by remaining on
horseback I had no wish to halt, I dismounted and gave the horse to the
care of one of my men. On this they removed into the house; and as
I was uncertain whether I was not expected to follow, I entered; but
instead of offering a seat, they began to put further questions merely
to satisfy their curiosity respecting the nature of the country and the
quantity of game beyond the borders.
Finding that no civility was intended to be shown me at this
house, and the family having given me sufficient proofs of their true
character, I ended the conversation by inquiring the bearing and
distance of Graaffreynet; resolving to depart from a place, the inhabitants
of which, were so much inferior in benevolence, to the
savages, 4 -, men in whose kraals we had been received with artless joy
and genuine good-will.
My own Hottentots, not supposing it possible that their master,
could meet with any other than a hospitable reception, or at least
with a civil one, had proceeded to some bushes at the distance of a
few yards from the fold, where they had unpacked the oxen and were
preparing to rest till the next morning. Though so close to the old
baas himself, and his wife, no one came near them, lest their speaking
to the men might be taken as a welcome to stop there. As I passed
by the fold in my way to this spot, I made the customary salutation
to him, with the view of ascertaining to what degree this hoggish
disposition could be carried, and of leaving him no excuse for omitting
the common civilities of the colony: neither he, nor his vrouw, made
any return, nor took any notice of the respect which I paid them ;
but continued looking at their sheep, and scarcely deigned to turn
their heads.
If I did not attribute it to a brutal insensibility,. I should be
totally at a loss in imagining what could have induced this boor and
his family to conduct themselves so differently from other colonists to
whom I was equally a stranger and equally unknown. My own
Hottentots had given them to understand that I was not their inferior,
and that, notwithstanding the weather-beaten appearance of my dress,
I was an ‘ Engelsche Heer.’ It is, however, not improbable, that their
having previously discovered that the person who was approaching
their habitation was an Englishman, might have been the cause of the
ungracious reception which they gave m e; and which it is very likely,
would have been much worse, had they not observed that we were all
armed.
In various parts of the colony may be found men who, without
any love for a Dutch government, hate that of the English, because it
has enforced their own colonial laws, and put a check upon those persons
who would rather live without any law at all. The inhabitants of
this settlement can surely have no reasonable or honorable excuse for
disliking a government under which they have risen to a degree of
prosperity and affluence, unknown to them before. Nor do I believe,
that the honest and reflecting part, and the general bulk of the community,
entertain any sentiments of this kind; sentiments which are confined
within a narrow compass, to a set of men who would prove
themselves unworthy subjects in any country, and such as criminal
codes have ever been made for.
I ordered my Hottentots to reload our bedding. The poor fellows
took up their bags, and, with dejected and disappointed looks, packed
them on the oxen again. They had been anticipating, certainly
not very unreasonably, the enjoyment of again tasting bread, and of
having some change of food, which for a long time had consisted only
in meat; and even that, without salt. My mind having been prepared
for travelling without luxuries, I felt for these men, much more than
for myself, as they had, elate with pleasing expectation, put on all their
best clothes, in order to show respect to the first farm-house which
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