1 April, 1812. 
POST TO CAPE TOWN. 
143 
their credulity, or their folly, may obtain a perverse influence over 
their judgment ; or their private views, or some secret motives, may 
seduce their feelings and respect for veracity, and lead them to re- 
peat and spread such reports ; but those who first set on foot tales 
which they know to be untrue, are the very worst and most dan- 
gerous characters in society, and deserve the heaviest punishment, if 
any can be found heavier than the universal contempt which follows 
detection. In the present instance, the misrepresentation was, I 
believe, to be attributed only to ignorance and fear combined. 
April 1st. GraafFreynet holds a regular communication with 
Cape Town, by means of a mail which sets out every first and second 
Wednesday in the month. This mail is conveyed on horseback from 
stage to stage, by Hottentots who are under the superintendance of 
farmers, or other persons, residing at certain distances along the road. 
It does not proceed directly to Cape Town, which, by the nearest 
way over the Karro and round by Tulbagh, may perhaps be about 
six hundred and fifty miles distant ; but it is carried to Uitenhage, 
and thence forwarded to the Cape. By this day's post, I informed 
my friends at the latter place, of my arrival here, and of the present 
uncertain state of the question respecting the hiring of Hottentots. 
Having now sufficiently recovered my strength, I took a ramble 
along the river. The rains of the two last days, had rendered this 
stream impassable for any carriage, and as there is no practicable 
road towards the south, but through the stream, several of the 
waggons which arrived on the 28th, were detained two or three days. 
This, which is a serious inconvenience to the town, might be remedied 
by a ferry-boat similar to that which has been described when pass- 
ing the Berg river : or it might perhaps not be found impossible to 
form a road, for foot-passengers at least, along the mountains on the 
eastern side ; by which the river might be avoided altogether. 
The village of Graqffi^eynet has its advantages, as well as its 
disadvantages ; it is situated in the heart of a country productive 
in cattle and corn, rapidly increasing in population and property, 
and surrounded by a fertile soil ; it enjoys abundance of water, and, 
it is said, a healthy climate. Fruits and vegetables of all kinds grow 
