SERVANT PUNISHED PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 363 



ed, and I was kept constantly on the rack by their annoy- 

 ances. ^One day I was obliged to resort to the very unusual 

 measure of flogging Onesimus, who by this time thought 

 himself too civilized to need correction. Indeed, they were 

 all more or less of this opinion, and wanted their dismissal. 

 Having always been kind and considerate toward my men — 

 too much so, perhaps — I felt disgusted at their ingratitude, 

 and exclaimed, rather passionately, "Yes; go, cowards! go 

 and teU your friends that you have left your master in the des- 

 ert to the mercy of wild beasts and savage men ; go and exult. 

 Your conduct shall not prevent me from persevering in my 

 plans." . On more mature consideration, however, they thought 

 better of it, and again returned to their duty with a good 

 will. 



After many delays and the most strenuous exertions, ev- 

 ery thing was at length in readiness for a start. Before set- 

 ting off, I wrote to some of my friends at the Cape, and also 

 a letter or two to Europe, intrusting them to Eyebrecht, who 

 returned forthwith to Walfisch Bay. 



At noon of the 14 th of June we assembled our oxen and 

 began to pack ; but, though we labored till our heads turned 

 giddy and our arms were paralyzed, w^e made but slow prog- 

 ress. No sooner had we finished arranging the burden of 

 one ox than another threw off his pack. It is utterly im- 

 possible for those who have never had ocular demonstration 

 of this kind of work with half- wild cattle to understand the 

 difficulty, and imagine the ludicrous scenes that take place. 

 I have already given a faint sketch of the process of training 

 oxen, from which the reader may glean some notion of the 

 obstacles to be surmounted, bearing in mind, at the same 

 time, that instead of a single ox we had ten to load, besides 

 those on which we were mounted, and which were not the 

 most manageable. 



At last we were off; but the day was then so far advanced 

 that we were unable to accomplish more than seven or eight 



