1SV2. 
HORSES, SHEEP, AND THREE HOTTENTOTS MISSING. 379 
to my observation ; and, even in the midst of all the confusion of 
novelty, the care which my situation created and the watchfulness 
which it demanded could not prevent me from enjoying the con- 
templation of the strange scene to which this day's journey had 
brought me. I beheld every where, a harvest of new ideas, and 
lamented that I was working alone in so extensive a field, and where 
so many eyes were wanted to observe, and so many hands to record. 
The existence of supreme power without the least distinction of 
ceremony or superiority of outward appearance in the possessor, was 
a combination of facts, quite new to me, and of which, the view of 
Mattivi as he was sitting at our fire, gave me an instructive proof. 
Every one who saw him, knew that he was the person who held 
that power ; and the consideration of this, seemed to satisfy all his 
ambition. He affected nothing different from those around him ; he 
squatted on the ground by their side, and sometimes took a whiff 
from Muchunka's pipe. He frequently on other evenings, took his 
seat amongst my Hottentots, and talked with them in very familiar 
terms, often asking them for their pipe ; which, there is little doubt, 
he did with a view to saving his own tobacco ; as I did not perceive 
that he was equally ready to return them the same favor. 
After Mattivi and his party had retired, and we were left once 
more by ourselves, excepting two of the chief's servants who re- 
mained in the hut all night, I discovered, on inquiring where my 
men had secured the horses, that neither they, nor the sheep, nor 
Andries, nor Stuurman, had returned home that night ; nor had they 
been seen or heard of since the teams were loosed from the waggons 
and they had gone away to drive the cattle out of the town to pasture. 
These Hottentots, it now appeared, had again neglected their duty ; 
and thus, at a moment when so many other subjects demanded my 
attention, were my cares encreased by their worthlessness ; nor could I, 
under the pressure of these feelings, scarcely avoid the wish that those 
who reduced me to the necessity of hiring such people, and those 
who prevented better from engaging in my service, might some day 
be placed in a situation to feel all those anxieties and difficulties 
which their ungenerous dealing caused me for so many months to 
3 c 2 
