1812. 
CHARACTER OF TRUY. 
181 
ultimately arranged to the satisfaction of all parties ; as Herholdt 
offered to receive them into his service and take care of them, on 
condition that Platje should consider himself as hired to him, from 
the day when he should be released from his engagement with me. 
The other new-comers were JulVs wife, and her child only three 
months old. At first he was told that she could not be allowed to 
follow us beyond the boundary, and, notwithstanding the eartiestness 
with which he begged permission for her, I considered it would be 
folly to take a woman with so young an infant, on an expedition of 
this kind ; of the real nature of which, my new men seemed not 
sufficiently aware ; although I had explicitly told them that it most 
probably would not be free from danger and great fatigue. He then 
solicited that she might go as far as Klaarwater, and promised that 
she should be left there during our journey farther into the Interior. 
The poor creature herself, looked so anxious while I was considering 
the reply, and there was something in her countenance so innocent 
and mild, and so expressive of goodness, that I could no longer 
refuse to grant, what I saw would make them both happy, and render 
them perhaps more contented in my service. 
Her name was TruyS" She was a genuine Hottentot, although 
perfectly ignorant of that language, and was, like her husband, 
acquainted with none but the Dutch. She was of small and very 
delicate form, with hands and feet of those neat proportions, for 
which the women of the Hottentot and Bushman nations are 
remarkable. For her child, whom she had named Windvogel, she 
appeared to possess the greatest maternal affection. All that I have 
said on the good qualities and fidelity of her husband, might here be 
repeated of hers, which if weighed impartially, would I think pre- 
ponderate. I should do this good creature injustice, if I did not 
declare, that it is not in my power to point out a fault in her character ; 
or at least, I never had, during all the time of her being in my ser- 
* Trui/, or as it was here commonly pronounced, Troei/, is the familial- name tor 
Geertruyda or Gertrude. 
