112 
COLONISTS AND BUSHMEN. 
19 March, 
Zuureveld ; where he had been on duty, nearly three months ; but his 
wife received us with the most willing hospitality. 
Before it was mentioned by myself, she had discovered that I 
had eaten nothing that day ; and immediately spread the table her- 
self, and set before me, meat, eggs, butter, and some excellent bread. 
These, although so great a treat after privations such as those of a 
journey on horseback through the wild country of the Bushmen, 
were not so gratifying as the benevolent kindness with which they 
were offered. She had given orders, that my men should be supplied 
with both bread and meat, and that my cattle should be taken into 
the fold, along with her own. She expressed great surprise at the 
journey we had performed, and that a white-man should have 
ventured in so unprotected a manner amongst the Bushmen ; but 
was still more surprised that I had escaped alive. 
These are the common sentiments of the colonists living on the 
borders, and who are accustomed to regard these savages as a most 
dangerous race of beings ; the very name of them conveying with it 
the idea of, stealing cattle, and of a cruel death by poisoned arrows. 
These ideas have not been admitted without cause ; and even at this 
time, the boors occasionally suffer heavy losses : but the Bushmen, 
in exculpation, declare that they rob in retaliation of past injuries. 
Thus, the recollection of injustice on both sides, still operates to 
produce an international enmity which nothing but great forbearance 
and good sense can ever convert into mutual confidence : a result 
which I believe to be attainable by means of a steady co-operation of 
the government and the colonists, as soon as both these shall concur 
in the undertaking, as in one which is equally their religious duty and 
their moral policy. 
Having been now nearly nine months without having received any 
intelligence from the Cape, I made many inquiries respecting the state 
of affairs ; but in this remote corner of the colony, nothing was heard 
from Cape Town ; and but little more was known of what was passing 
at Graaffreynet. At these farms the visit of a stranger is a rare oc- 
currence ; and, excepting their neighbours, for so they call those who 
reside within forty or fifty miles, scarcely any one is seen to pass this 
