the justice to declare, that, when in a state of intoxication, at which
times there would be no restraint upon vicious inclinations, they
generally exhibited a goodness of disposition which, I shall always
think, belongs naturally to the Hottentot character.
One day, when they were in this state, Old Hans and Speelman
came together into my room, with hearts overflowing with zeal for
my service and the most respectful regard for my person. The
object of their communication was some information respecting a
Hottentot whom they expected to persuade to join our party. Their
solicitude for the interest of my journey, and their repeated declaration
that they were ready to do any thing to serve me, left nothing
further for me to wish, but that they were sober.
Old Cobus had saved his wages till within a day or two of our
departure, and had nearly established himself in my good opinion, as
a Hottentot who was careful of his property ; but, unable to resist
temptation and bad example, he faltered at last ; and I found him
one day lying in the tent, after a fit of intoxication, bewailing the loss
of all his money. This misfortune brought him sufficiently to his
senses, to confess that he had spent a great part of it at the pagter s ;
but that the rest, being usually kept in his hat, had been stolen away,
while he lay in a state of insensibility, or, as he more delicately called
it, sleep. The thief was never discovered, nor even suspected.
One of my men appeared in his manners very different from the
rest ; he was always silent and sullen ; seldom quitted the tent ; and
whenever any strangers from the village came there, as they frequently
did for the purpose of learning some particulars of our journey, he
used to cover himself up in his kaross and lie down in one corner as
if asleep. On one occasion, when I ordered him to fetch some sheep
which I had purchased at a neighbouring farm, he evinced the greatest
reluctance to go, and, pretending that he was unacquainted with the
road, begged that I would send another instead of him., This
diabolical wretch had sufficient cause for desiring thus to hide himself
from observation ; yet, although the rest of my people sometimes
remarked that his behaviour was strange and unaccountable, no one
had any suspicions of his being the man whom he was afterwards
proved to be. I reserve the horrid story for that part of my journal
to which it properly belongs; but I cannot without shuddering, reflect
how often my life has been in his hands; nor remember without
gratitude, the protection of Providence, which shielded me during my
travels, from the many dangers, both seen and unseen, to which I
have been exposed. This miscreant was he whom we have called
Old Daniel.
15th. From so irregular a mode of passing their time, my people
fell into a neglect of, or rather an inattention to, the only duty
required of them during our stay; and I was therefore not surprised
at being told that all the oxen were missing. I despatched
men in parties, to seek in different directions ; and it was not till the
seventh day of their search, that all were recovered. One of these
animals, influenced by its long habits of sleeping by the waggons and
of lying down to rest near our fires and in the society of men,
returned home of its own accord: the rest were at last discovered at
a distant place, grazing in company with a large herd belonging to
the village.
On one of the days while the men were engaged in this search,
one party was sent to explore the mountains; and, as tigers were
said to haunt those places, they took the dogs with them for safety.
Baboons * are also met with here in great numbers ; and unfortunately
the dogs, through a natural antipathy to this tribe of animals, pursued
a small company, which turned upon them, and defended themselves
most effectually. They killed one of the dogs on the spot, by biting
it through the jugular artery ;. and another, they severely disabled by
tearing a large piece of flesh out of its side; so that, a part of the
ribs was laid bare.
18th. In the preceding fortnight, the weather had been dry and
* Cercopithecus ursinus. I have taken the specific name from Pennant, as being sufficiently
characteristic, but have not perceived the necessity for adopting the generic name
of Cynocephalus proposed by Cuvier. In this, I am supported by the opinion of the
learned Illiger, who says “ Anne genus Cercopithecorum cum sequente (Cynocephalo-
rum) jungendnm.” Prod. Syst. Mamm., p. 69.
VOL. II. x