SOUTHERN AFRICA. 149 



GUI' guide^ had left the wag'g'ons, and proceeded to a kraal 

 at some distance^ for the purpose of communicating' to 

 'Ling-ap, the subordinate captain of whom I have before 

 spoken^ and who resided there^ the king-'s orders that he 

 should attach himself to our suite. The consequence of 

 this ill-judg'ed proceeding* was^ that we were deprived of 

 his services at the very moment when they were most 

 requii-ed. The warriors not perceiving- any of their own 

 tribe with our party, and having- had their hands so lately 

 imbrued with the blood of white men, could think of 

 nothing' but war and plunder. Suspecting-, or rather hoping', 

 that we had found means to enter the country without the 

 king-'s knowledg-e, they closed round the wag-g-ons with 

 every demonstration of hostility, accosting- us with insolence, 

 and peremptorily commanding- the drivers to halt ; several 

 at the same time placing- themselves in front to obstruct the 

 passag-e. The Hottentots looked ag-hast, and Coeur de Lion, 

 in a state of extreme ag-itation, fainted when he saw a 

 number of wounded warriors borne past on the shields of 

 their comrades, whilst others g-roaned under the weig-ht of 

 accoutrements that had been stripped from the bodies of 

 the slain. 



Our situation was now critical — Andries, whether from 

 terror, or the disgust excited b}'^ his supercession at Kapain, 

 showed no disposition to extricate us by an explanation of 

 the true state of affairs. No one else understood a word 

 of the languag-e. The crowd was fast encroaching- upon 

 us, and their pacific intentions becoming- momentarily more 

 questionable. Some even clambered into the wag-g-ons, over- 

 hauling" their contents, whilst others cast a long-ing* eye at 

 the oxen and sheep. The unhappy Andries was at leng-th 

 seized by a brawny savag-e, an event which proved highly 

 favom-able to us, for in his agony of distress at the supposed 

 approach of death, he found his tongue, and stuttered out 



