30 EXPEDITION INTO 



little difficulty in obtaining- n, second one for our journey* 

 This will appear strange to those who know that in the Cape 

 Colony five out of every six tradesmen are wheelwrig'hts or 

 wag-o-on-builders ; but Gertz Maritz, the principal wag-g-on- 

 maker at GraafF Reinet, a wealthy and discontented man, 

 who, it will be seen, afterwards took a prominent part in the 

 proceeding's of his expatriated countr3^men — being* about to 

 emig-rate, had not only purchased as many as he could obtain, 

 but was also busily eng-ag'ed in manufacturing- for himself. 



To our surprise we found that the various wares we had 

 obtained at Cape Town, and which we had unfortunately 

 been oblig"ed to relinquish at Somerset, could easily have 

 been procured at GraafF Reinet. Unwilling*, however, to 

 incur fresh expense, or to be delayed beyond the 1st Septem- 

 ber, the day we had fixed for our departure, we despatched 

 a cart to Somerset Avith instructions to Mr. Butler to forward 

 the articles under his charg-e ; and were not a little mortified 

 to find that during* our short absence the}^ had been devoured, 

 as he asserted, by the rats and other vermin, and were con- 

 sequently not forthcoming-. So that in the end we were not 

 only saddled with the extra charge for the cart, but also 

 obliged to make further disbursements for a fresh supply. 



The agent we employed here was Mr. John Burnet 

 Biddulph, a trader, who had some years before visited So- 

 biqua, king of the Wangkets, and whose name, in con- 

 junction Avith that of Mr. Bain, will be found referred to in 

 Arrowsmith's map of South Africa. Knowing exactl}'^ what 

 we required, he succeeded in obtaining for us from one 

 NavM, a capital waggon with thirty draught oxen ; and we 

 had in the meantime completed our stud of horses to twelve, 

 of all sorts and sizes, conceiving that these would suffice, 

 though in this supposition we were greatly mistaken. 



Our waggon fitted up with water-casks, tar-buckets, side- 

 chests, beds, pockets, and other appurtenances for the long* 



