S90 EXPEDITION INTO 



sibout Natal^ it would hove been necessary to traverse the 

 whole leng'th of Ding-aan's dominions^ a journey fraug'ht 

 with difficulties of the most formidable kind, and opposed 

 by a climate of the most destructive character. And^ as 

 the newly discovered country was abundantly watered^ 

 abounding" in g'amCj and affording- all the materials requisite 

 for building'^ the further prog-ress of the emigrants was for 

 the present discontinued. 



The example thus set by Louis Triechard was speedily 

 followed by many of his countrymen. Numerous parties 

 were formed on the frontier by the border colonists, who, 

 with their families and flocks, crossed the Great River, and 

 dived into the very depths of the wilderness, with no very 

 clear idea perhaps of what their ultimate destination was to 

 be, but yet firmly determined to abandon their native hearths 

 for ever, and to fix their future residence in some distant 

 land. For the sake of obtaining- pasturag-e for their nu 

 merous herds, and in opposition to the advice of the Mis- 

 sionaries through whose stations they passed, by whom they 

 were warned of the imminent risk that they would incur 

 from the native tribes, they scattered themselves heedlessly 

 along- the luxuirant banks of the Likwa or Vaal river^ with 

 the desig-n of remaining- until the country in advance should 

 be explored, and their plans dig-ested and arrang-ed. 



About the end of May, two parties, headed by J. S. 

 Bronkhorst, and H. Potg-eiter, left the emig-rant camp for the 

 purpose of exploring- the country to the north-eastward. 

 They visited Louis Triechard at the Zout-pans-berg-, or Salt- 

 pan-hill, a nd penetrated sixteen d ay s' journey bej^ond, throug-li 

 a lovely, fertile, and unoccupied country, until they arrived 

 within six days' journe}" of Delag-oa Bay, where they met 

 Avitli two sons of the notorious Conrad Buys, living- among-st 

 a friendly tril)e of natives, whom, from a pecularity in the 

 nasal prominence, they dignified with the appellation of 



