13 July, 1812. 
ENTRANCE INTO LITAKUN. 
359 
crowd, reflected a sunshine upon every object, and from the first 
instant, banished every uneasy sensation which the uncertainty of our 
reception might have created. With the recollection of the vexations 
and disappointments which had so long attended my progress into 
the Interior, I felt as though I had, by advancing thus far, gained a 
triumph over the numerous difficulties which must always beset and 
oppose every traveller who shall attempt to explore these regions, 
alone and unsupported, cheered by no friend, upheld by no aid. 
While surveying with rapidity the new character of this bustling- 
crowd of Africans, and admiring the social appearance and magnitude 
of a town, so different in every respect from those of Europe, I caught 
a spirit of enthusiasm which seemed like some fascinating power 
emanating from the strange objects which every where surrounded 
me, and excited feelings which rendered my first view of the town of 
Litakun, a moment, which, in its peculiar gratification and delight, 
was never surpassed by any other event of the journey. Accustomed, 
as I had been, for so many months, to the sight of only the frail 
moveable huts of Hottentots and Bushmen, I rejoiced at finding 
myself at length arrived among a nation whose dwellings claimed the 
name of buildings. Although the weather was cold, yet the sun 
shone bright and shed animation upon the scene and enlivened the 
appearance of these dwellings, as much as the arrival of the white 
stranger, seemed to lend a pleasing active curiosity to their gazing 
inhabitants. 
Muchunka, who was in high spirits, led the way as our guide 
through the labyrinth of houses. He had equipped himself with a gun 
and cartridge-box on this occasion, that he might display before his 
countrymen some marks of superiority ; and of which he was not a 
little proud. My own men, of whom three were mounted on horses 
and the rest on foot, kept closely together ; while I myself sat in 
front of the great waggon, by the side of Philip, and whom I was 
glad to see managing his long whip without the least symptom of 
being confused by the presence of so large a throng. My attention 
was too much occupied another way, to allow me to observe whether 
all of my party were equally at their ease ; but I suspected that they 
