27S TRAVELS IN 
was apprehenfive he fhould not fee me till I 
returned to the Cape, as he was perfuaded 
that, unlefs I met with infurmountable ob- 
ftacles, I would ftill proceed as long as I had 
ammunition. 
I honeftly confefs, that having been for 
nearly a month deprived of the comforts and 
enjoyments of my camp, I was exceedingly 
happy to find myfelf returned ; and I had 
the higheft fatisfadion in the fidelity and at- 
tachment of thefe Hottentots, fo feeble and 
timid, whom I had not been afraid to aban- 
don to themfelves. It was therefore now 
time that I fliould {hew them my gratitude : 
on this account I proclaimed with a loud 
voice that it was Saturday ; and this decla- 
ration, which paffed from mouth to mouth 
even to the Gonaquas, feemed ftill to add to 
their agitation. This clrpumftance requires 
'fome explanation,which I (hall give with frefli 
pleafure ; for the remembrance of thefe tri- 
fling but agreeable methods I purfued to vary 
my amufements, and in an uninhabitable de- 
f^rt to convert the fimpleft objed into a 
fubjed of pleafantry and entertainment, an- 
nounces the greateft tranquillity, and makg$ 
me, even when furrounded by the arts, and 
agitated 
