142 
FALSE REPORTS. 
26, 28 March, 
but this complaint appeared to be of an intractable nature, and in 
spite of all which was done, seemed still to take its own course. One 
of its remarkable symptoms, was, an unusual heat at the throat, 
followed by a violent cough attended with expectoration. This, I 
was told, had universally been found to be the effect of the disorder. 
On the following day, I received a visit from Dr. Menzies and 
Lieutenant Schonfeldt, the commissary for troops at Graaffreynet. 
In most cases friendly visits to an invalid are beneficial, as they 
divert the thoughts, and thus often operate more successfully 
towards the recovery of health, than the most efficacious medicines. 
The polite attention which I experienced from Dr. Menzies during 
the three weeks of his stay at this village, contributed much to 
render my detention here less irksome to me, than it otherwise 
would have been. There were no English residents at Graaffreynet, 
excepting a few dragoons for the purpose of conveying despatches ; 
nor, during the whole time of my abode here, was it visited by any 
of my countrymen, excepting once by Colonel Arbuthnot, with 
whom I had the pleasure, at Lieutenant Schonfeldt's table, of con- 
versing in my own language ; a gratification only to be appreciated 
by those who have long been deprived of it. 
2^tJi. Thirty waggons with colonists and their families from various 
parts of the district, some from a distance of two or three days' journey, 
arrived and were outspanned on the plain which surrounds the church, 
and to which the number of white tilts gave somewhat the appearance 
of a fair. These people came for the purpose of attending divine 
service and of receiving the sacrament ; the following being one of 
the quarterly days appointed for that duty. On such occasions, 
it is said, thrice this number are usually seen ; but the absence of 
many boors who were on militia duty in the Zuureveld, had greatly 
reduced it ; and the clergyman, on inquiring why so few now at- 
tended, was told that many more communicants would have come, 
had they not been deterred by a report that a body of three hundred 
Hottentots were marching in a hostile manner to Graaffreynet. 
It is very difficult to account reasonably for the propensity which 
men, not only in this Colony, but in other countries better informed 
and more polished, have for propagating false reports. Their fears, 
