Zuureveld; where he had been on duty, nearly three months; but his
wife received us with the most willing hospitality.
Before it was mentioned by myself, she had discovered that I
had eaten nothing that day; and immediately spread the table herself,
and set before me, meat, eggs, butter, and some excellent bread.
These, although so great a treat after privations such as those of a
journey on horseback through the wild country of the Bushmen,
were not so gratifying as the benevolent kindness with which they
were offered. She had given orders, that my men should be supplied
with both bread and meat, and that my cattle should be taken into
the fold, along with her own. She expressed great surprise at the
journey we had performed, and that a white-man should have
ventured in so unprotected a manner amongst the Bushmen; but
was still more surprised that I had escaped alive.
These are the common sentiments of the colonists living on the
borders, and who are accustomed to regard these savages as a most
dangerous race of beings; the very name of them conveying with it
the idea of, stealing cattle, and of a cruel death by poisoned arrows.
These ideas have not been admitted without cause; and even at this
time, the boors occasionally suffer heavy losses: but the Bushmen,
in exculpation, declare that they rob in retaliation of past injuries.
Thus, the recollection of injustice on both sides, still operates to
produce an international enmity which nothing but great forbearance
and good sense can ever convert into mutual confidence: a result
which I believe to be attainable by means of a steady co-operation of
the government and the colonists, as soon as both these shall concur
in the undertaking, as in one which is equally their religious duty and
their moral policy.
Having been now nearly nine months without having received any
intelligence from the Cape, I made many inquiries respecting the state
of affairs ; but in this remote corner of the colony, nothing was heard
from Cape Town; and but little more was known of what was passing
at Graaffreynet. At these farms the visit of a stranger is a rare occurrence
; and, excepting their neighbours, for so they call those who
reside within forty or fifty miles, scarcely any one is seen to pass this
way. Not even the butcher’s man, or slagters knegt#, ever made his
appearance at this distant farm; although the owner possessed a flock
of not less than four thousand sheep; and many of his neighbours,
not less than six.
Still, however, the rearing of cattle was their chief means of
subsistence: the family, with their slaves and Hottentots, being fed
with mutton at every meal, caused a daily consumption of two sheep,
the fat of which was considered almost equal in value to the rest of
the carcass, by being manufactured into soap. It was, as they informed
me, more profitable to kill their sheep, for this purpose only,
than to sell them to the butchers at so low a price as a rix-dollar
or less, and even so low as five schellings. f Formerly the alkali
necessary for this manufacture, was obtained here from the Ganna-
(or Kanna-) bosch; but that being at length, all consumed through
a constant demand for it, another species of Salsola growing wild
in many parts of the country, was taken as a substitute, and found
to be even preferable to the ganna. In the house, I saw a great
number of cakes of this soap, piled up to harden, ready for their
next annual journey to Cape Town; whither they go, not merely
for the purpose of selling it, but of purchasing clothing and such
other articles as are not to be had in the country districts, but at an
exorbitant price.
The pasture of this farm, and of the whole of the neighbouring
country generally, is thought to be less adapted for oxen, than for
sheep; on which account, Vermeulen holds a farm in another division,
better suited for his larger cattle.
The country in which we now were, is that division of the
Graaffreynet district, which is called Achter-Sneewwberg (Behind the
Snow-mountains). It is, as well as several others in this part of the
colony, very deficient in trees of dimensions large enough for planks ;
* The office of slagters knegt has already been described page 201. in the first volume* at
st. erlifn gT mhoant eisy;. from four shillings to half a crown currency; or about half that sum in
VOL. II. Q