SOUTHERN AFBICA. 13 



was under fifty years of age. The cobbler apologized next 

 morning- for not inviting' us to the wassail, on the score that 

 we were gentlemen^ adding* that not being' at the time alto- 

 g'ether " compos mentis/' he hoped Ave would excuse his 

 apparent want of politeness. 



We halted one day, in order to enjo}' the diversion of wild 

 g'uinea-fowl shooting* on De Ivlerck's farm, where we found 

 these birds in abundance, lying* in coveys among'st the long* 

 g'rass and under-g*rowth. AVhen flushed, they rose whirring- 

 like pheasants hig*h above the tops of the trees. On the 31st 

 we continued om* journey about five miles, to Somerset, at 

 which we hoped to obtain another wag-g*on ; the uxorious 

 John Str^Tlom having* been proof against the most tempthig* 

 bribes offered to induce him to transport our baggage beyond 

 it. The paltry little town of Somerset consists only of 

 about two dozen English houses, and stands in a swamp 

 at the western base of a mountainous range called the Zuur- 

 berg, being* completeh' envii'oned on three sides by the Little 

 Fish Eiver, in attempting* to cross which treacherous stream, 

 my horse was suddenly' engulphed in a quicksand, and nearly 

 drowned before I could extricate him. 



My recollections of Somerset, a place through which I 

 have twice passed, are I confess, far from pleasing. After I 

 had thrown off my wet garments, we prosecuted our search 

 for a vehicle, and literally visited in succession every house 

 in the village, taking Jackson the Tinman first in order, to 

 whom we had brouo*ht a strong* letter of introduction fi'om 

 the crippled cobbler, but who, nevertheless, received us with 

 marked contumely, turning* us from his door with dirt upon 

 our beards, as our Persian friends in India would say. The 

 proprietors of no less than nine out of the twenty-four 

 mansions, were smniamed Smith, an appellation by no means 

 less common in the Cape Colony than in other parts of the 

 British dominions. But although all the Messrs. Smith had 



