210 VISITS TO iMADACxASCAPv. chai-. vin. 



me aside, and quietly gave me a handsome silver snuff-box, 

 lined with gold, and with his name engraved on the lid, which 

 he said he wished me to present to the London Missionary 

 Society, as an expression of his grateful feelings towards that 

 institution. His wife, who was also formerly a slave, in the 

 mean time brought out a basket of fine ripe apples and 

 apricots, for our use on the journey. 



Gfraaf Reinet, which we had now left, is an interesting 

 place, admirably situated in a sort of basin formed by moun- 

 tains of varied height and form, and watered by the Sunday 

 river, by whose winding course it is nearly surrounded. 

 Numbers of magnificent oleanders, Neriuni splendeiis, twelve 

 or fourteen feet high, were in full flower, the blossoms much 

 darker coloured than they are ever seen in England. Large 

 weeping willows were growing luxuriantly around the 

 fountain in the centre of the town, near which the compact 

 and substantial mission buildings were situated. The Dutch 

 Reformed Church here is a fine building, with steeple and 

 spire, and stands, I presume, on the site of one in which, 

 half a century ago, the insurgent boers of that day, then in 

 arms against the government, insisted, as one of the con- 

 ditions of peace, upon having the pulpit washed, because in 

 it Dr. Vanderkemp had, with the sanction of the commis- 

 sioner, preached to the people of colour resorting to the 

 place. How great the change produced by fifty years ! for 

 now some of the people of colour possess considerable landed 

 property in the same place, live in a style of respectability 

 and comfort, and occupy important positions, while enjoying 

 the respect of society. One of them, a smith, has a num- 

 ber of apprentices or journeymen alwaj^s employed, amongst 

 whom I heard there was both a Dutchman and an Eng- 

 lishman, as well as native Africans. 



Besides the friends more immediately connected with the 

 missions, I had the pleasure, during my short stay, of making 



