178 
THE BED-ROOM. 
I, 2 May, 
not have sold his mutton for more than a halfpenny the pound, it 
could hardly be supposed that he did so from thriftiness. 
This being over, and grace said, he sent the Hottentot boy to 
conduct us to our bed-room. There was no waste of compliments on 
retiring to rest : and indeed, as the case turned out, his good wishes 
for my having a comfortable night's repose, would all have proved 
' null and void, and of none effect.' We followed the boy out of 
doors, and were brought to a place without a window, at one end of 
the house, where, pushing open an old door nearly falling off its 
hinges, our page said; " Here is where baas is to sleep." At the 
first glance I could not distinguish what sort of a den he had put us 
into ; it resembled a^coal-hole, both in size and color ; every part, the 
walls, and thfe roof, which were all it consisted of, were as black as a 
chimney; no place could exceed it in dirtiness and in wretchedness 
of appearance. At each end we discovered the bedsteads : they were 
formed of stakes driven into the ground. Of these I gave Lubbe 
his choice, who immediately threw himself down upon his couch ; 
and Morpheus shortly afterwards strewed his poppies over him. But 
it was not so with me : the filthiness of the place was so disgusting 
that I felt not the least inclination to sleep ; and even if T had, my 
fellow-traveller would not have allowed it ; for, dreaming, no doubt, 
that he was in a pigstye, he very naturally snored in imitation of its 
proper inhabitants. 
Finding that it was in vain to think of rest, I went out to look 
for the boy. There was no returning into the house again : the 
doors were fastened, and all were asleep. The moon being exceed- 
ingly bright, I attempted to make a sleeping-place in Lubbe's 
waggon ; but as the air was frosty, and the waggon had no tilt, it was 
found so extremely cold, that I was glad to remove back into the 
black hole again. Fortunately I found the Hottentot, who was not 
yet gone to bed ; and the poor little fellow well-pleased at having to 
wait upon an Englishman, brought some sticks and made me a fire 
in one corner of the building. The place we were in, had formerly 
been occupied by the slaves and Hottentots of the farm ; but was now 
used only for the accommodation of ' slagter's knegts' and visitors. 
