1'^ EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. II. 



hunter, and a finished waggon-driver ; thus pro- 

 fessing to combine, beneath a mutilated and unpre- 

 possessing exterior, every qualification that could be 

 required in a servant by men in our situation. Had 

 but the virtues of this man kept pace with the ac- 

 complishments to which he laid claim, he would 

 indeed have been a valuable acquisition : but un- 

 fortunately the result proved that he had not a 

 single redeeming quality that we could discover. 

 A coward, a mutineer, and an inveterate liar, it 

 will be seen that Andries caused more mischief and 

 trouble to us by his pernicious example and rebellious 

 conduct when beyond the reach of the law, than can 

 be well conceived by those who have never had the 

 misfortune to be exposed to the machinations of so 

 dangerous a ruffian. 



Wherever we were likely to obtain recruits to join 

 our expedition, we hoisted our standard, in the hope 

 and expectation that numbers would flock around it. 

 But whilst some had married wives, and others had 

 purchased farms, we saw too plainly written in the 

 countenances of all, that they felt convinced of the 

 impossibility of two poor Indian gentlemen, who 

 had been only three weeks in the colony, achieving, 

 alone and unassisted, amongst savage nations in 

 South Africa, a long and perilous journey, which 

 had never been undertaken except by a few persons 

 whose experience of the country might be traced 

 back almost to their cradles, and even by them 

 had been accomplished with great difficulty and 

 hazard. 



