Chap. IV,] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 23 



|)0S!-ible also to visit the Great Lake, which is re- 

 j)Orted to exist considerably beyond it in the interior 

 — finally forcing my way back to the colony by the 

 hitherto unexplored route of the Likwa or Vaal 

 River, which, though the most direct, had hitherto, 

 in consequence of Moselekatse's interdiction, re- 

 mained unexplored by Europeans, and which I in- 

 tended to survey. I need scarcely say that at this 

 time the result of Dr. Smith's recent inquiries had 

 not been made public, and even while I now write, 

 his work has not reached India. 



At the time of our arrival at Graaff Reinet, the 

 rage for emigration beyond the boundary was rapidly 

 spreading, and waggons being consequently at a 

 high premium, we had no little difficulty in obtain- 

 ing a second one for our journey. Tiiis will appear 

 strange to those who know that in the Cape Colony 

 tive out of every six tradesmen are wheelwrights or 

 waggon-builders; but Gertz Maritz, the principal 

 waggon-maker at Graaff Reinet, a wealthy and dis- 

 contented man, who, it will be seen, afterwards took 

 a prominent part in the proceedings of his expatriated 

 countrymen — being about to emigrate, had not only 

 purchased as many as he could obtain, but was also 

 busily engaged in maiiufacturing for himself. 



To our surprise, we found that the various wares 

 we had obtained at Cape Town, and which we had 

 unfortunately been obliged to relinquish at Somerset, 

 could easily have been procured at GraatY Reinet. 

 UnwiUing, however, to incur fresh expense, or to be 

 delayed beyond the 1st September, the day we had 



