14 EXPEDITION INTO 



wag"g'oiiS; not one of them could be induced to accede to 

 our request. One of the several John Smiths^ a straig-ht- 

 haired niethodistical little man^ was sitting' down to dinner 

 with Mrs. Smith and the children^ when we called to pay 

 our respects^ and bowing- to the g'round^ ventured to seat 

 ourselves on a vacant sofa ; but thoug-h the young- Smiths 

 stared abundantly at us^ neither the master nor mistress even 

 condescended to look at us^ the lady after a time informing- 

 us^ whilst she shovelled down the pease and g"ravy with her 

 knife^ that she could not think of allowing- her poor dear 

 oxen to g'o another journey so immediately after their return 

 from the country. 



In the course of our perambulations throug'h the town^ we 

 stumbled upon a wag-g-on discharging- a carg-o of orang-es, 

 which was to return the very next day to within* a few 

 miles of Graaff Heinet j 3^et^ strang-e to say^ the bull-headed 

 proprietor, after taking' an hour to consider of our offer, 

 preferred returning' empty to receiving" our freig'ht and fifty 

 Rix dollars. In the end, being- utterly discomfited, we had 

 no alternative but to avail ourselves of an offer oblig'ing-ly 

 made by a Mr. Thomas Butler, to deposit our effects in his 

 warehouse ; and having- strictly enjoined him to forward 

 them to us by the first opportunity, we crossed the Little 

 Fish River a second time, and, shaking* the dust from off 

 our feet, departed from Somerset. 



The following" morning-, according- to arrang-ements pre- 

 viously made, Mr. John Campbell, a kind and oblig'ing' friend 

 whom we had met at Graham's Town, and to whom we had 

 been introduced by Colonel Tripp, overtook us, and shared 

 our g'ipsy breakfast on his way to Graaff Eeinet. The road 

 over Bruintjes Hoog'te, comprises a succession of formidable 

 acclivities and perilous descents, and we were frequently 

 oblig'ed to lock both hind-wheels at the same time, the path 

 skirting" the very brink of yawning- chasms several hundred 



