154 
PASTORAL DUTIES HOTTENTOTS HIRED. 18— 24 April, 
pleasant ; but in the course of the following week, much rain fell : 
and for the remainder of my stay at this village, I was troubled con- 
tinually with a * cold in the head,' a complaint which had never 
attacked me while nightly sleeping in the open air. In this, the 
powerful effect of habit, on the bodily constitution, was remarkably 
exemplified ; while, on the other hand, it proved that luxuries, as the 
convenience of sleeping in a warm bedroom might now be considered, 
may be attended with disadvantages. 
I9th. During my residence at Graaffreynet, I had constant 
opportunities of noticing Mr. Kicherer's extraordinary zeal in religion, 
and unremitted attention to the duties of his situation. Through his 
exertions religious assemblies took place every day in the week, either 
in the church, or at the meeting-house, or at private dwellings ; and 
similar meetings of females were conducted by his lady. Four times a 
year, he undertook journeys through his district for the purpose of 
holding these assemblies in various places, for the convenience and 
instruction of those whom distance prevented from coming to the 
church. These pastoral visits were called huisbezoekings, or domici- 
liary visitations. Though enthusiasm in the evangelical cause is 
not an uncommon sentiment ; I have no hesitation in believing 
Mr. Kicherer's religious feelings to have been as sincere as they were 
warm, and that his labors were directed by an earnest desire for the 
diffusing of the Gospel. 
2Srd. The landdrost, whose arrival I had been long expecting, 
did not return till yesterday ; and this afternoon he sent to inform 
me that Jive Hottentots were waiting at his house ready to engage 
themselves in my service. Rejoiced at this agreeable intelligence, I 
repaired thither, immediately, and found them not only willing, but 
even desirous of undertaking the journey, as he had urged every 
favorable circumstance to encourage them, and was himself equally 
desirous that I should hire them. He fixed the wages which they were 
to receive ; and to these, they instantly agreed. I therefore believed 
myself to be fortunate in having at length obtained the object of 
my visit to the Colony, and was happy at finding the affair thus at 
length settled. They had not, indeed, the looks of Hottentots of the 
