132 
WANT OF VERACITY. 
23 March, 
inability to move his limbs prevented his proceeding farther ; and 
then, he merely said to the Hottentots, that he was very cold. 
Early in the morning, two boors on horseback, attended by two 
Hottentot acliter-ryders, or according to colonial pronunciation, achter- 
ryers, (after-riders,) passing by, halted for about ten minutes, and as 
usual, made inquiries, whence we came and whither we were going. 
These men, as I was afterwards informed by the landdrost, were then 
going to GraafFreynet for the purpose of reporting to him our numbers 
and of explaining who we were. One of them was the veldcornet : their 
manners led me to suspect this ; and I asked if either was the veld- 
cornet, but they replied. No ; and to my question, whether they were 
going to GraafFreynet, they gave the same answer. The Hottentots, 
who knew the tricks of the boors in such cases, better than I did, 
were of opinion that the cause of their telling so unqualified a false- 
hood, was the fear of my putting the veldcornet in requisition 
for some assistance ; as he had been informed by the messenger he 
sent to Van der Merwe's, that I had that privilege. They asked 
if we were not afraid to venture in so defenceless a manner through 
the Boschmans-land ; — at this moment, I could not help turning 
my eyes from them to poor little Magerman, and wondering that 
men of such gigantic stature, should not feel ashamed to confess 
that so diminutive a race of savages could inspire them with personal 
fear. 
These achter-ryders are servants intended both for outward show 
and for use, and correspond in this twofold nature of their duty, to 
many of our English grooms. A colonist generally takes with him 
a Hottentot of this description, when he undertakes a journey to 
any considerable distance from home : and near the borders, such 
an attendant is far from useless, as he ensures to him some additional 
safety. 
Soon after we left Cold Station, we descended below the clouds 
and mist, into a drier region j where, had we been better acquainted 
with the country and my men had been able to travel farther yester- 
day, we might have passed the night in a less wretched situation. 
The country was very mountainous though in some places we 
