372 
HISTORY OF ADAM THE BACHAPIN. 
13 July, 
tion, as he did not then make himself known to me as a native of 
Litakun ; and from his speaking the language of the Colony so 
readily, and wearing the same dress as the other people, I supposed 
him to be a Hottentot of the mixed race. He now told me that he 
had been living in the service of the boors in the Bokkeveld and 
Roggeveld, from the time of his childhood ; but knew not", as he 
said, by what means he was brought away from his native country. 
On the arrival of our caravan in that part of the colony, he con- 
ceived a desire to visit the land which gave him birth ; although he 
was utterly ignorant of the name of his parents, and even of the name 
they had given him, by which he might be enabled to make himself 
known to them : and besides this, he was totally unacquainted with 
the Sichuana language. He had received from tlie Boors, the name 
Adam; and by this he was now generally called. Having been 
told that I was coming to this place, he had intended to accompany 
my waggons thus far ; but the various delays which had impeded 
my progress, and the reported uncertainty of my ever returning alive 
to Klaarwater, had at last induced him to make the journey in 
company with some Hottentots ; with whom he arrived here about a 
month before me. To his great pleasure, he had at length dis- 
covered his father ; and who, to his further satisfaction, proved 
to be one of the richest chieftains in the town, and consequently, 
a man of some importance; to which advantages he thus found 
himself suddenly, and most unexpectedly, entitled. His father's 
superior affluence might be estimated from the circumstance of his 
having four different dwelling-houses, and as many wives. Adam 
was endeavouring to learn the language ; but as yet had experienced 
great difficulty in making himself to be understood by his country- 
men. It was not, he said, his intention to fix his residence perma- 
nently at this place, as he preferred living on the Gariep, with the 
Hottentots, under captain Berends ; to whose manners, language, 
and mode of life, he was more accustomed ; as he knew little of any 
others. He had partly laid aside his colonial dress, and had adopted 
that of the Bichuanas, excepting only the pukoli : instead of this he 
retained his leathern trowsers, to which he had been accustomed all his 
