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necessary to retire. He then resumed his original profession, 

 went to Edinburgh, studied there for some years, took out 

 his degree, and, on his return home, commenced practice as 

 a physician, in which capacity he had the charge of a large 

 military hospital during the campaigns of 1793-4. On the 

 termination of the war, he retired from employment, and 

 lived on his private fortune. 



" In the earlier part of his career, the Dr. is said to have 

 been rather heterodox in his religious opinions, openly pro- 

 fessing himself a deist. But the loss of his wife and child, 

 by a disastrous accident, gave a new turn to his ideas ; and 

 he suddenly became devoted to the doctrines of the Christian 

 religion. In this frame of mind, having accidentally got 

 sight of the scheme circulated by the Missionary Society 

 for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen; his ima- 

 gination caught a spark of the sacred flame, and he offered 

 to undertake a mission among the savage tribes of Africa. 



" The acquisition of such a man as Vanderkemp, high in 

 rank, in fortune, in learning, and in reputation, was of the 

 utmost importance to the objects of the society. No time 

 was therefore lost in forwarding him to the field of his 

 missionary labours. In the beginning of the year 1799, he 

 arrived at the Cape, and after a short stay in the capital, 

 proceeded to CafFreland. This was an undertaking of 

 extreme hazard, on account of the war carried on at that 

 time against the British Government by the boors of the 

 frontier, and against both by the CafFres. After a good 

 deal of trouble, however, he made his way to King Gaika's 

 court, where he remained for sixteen months, environed, 

 according to his own account, by all sorts of danger and 

 temptation, bodily as well as spiritual. But finding that his 

 zeal among these savages was likely to be its own reward, 

 he returned to the Colony. 



" Meeting with General Dundas on his return, the latter 

 recommended to his notice the Hottentots dispersed over the 

 district of Graaf Reynett, and promised to facilitate any 

 plan he might form to collect them into one society. In 

 this undertaking the Dr. was more successful than in his 



