NAMACQUA LAND. 
421 
to be a kind of law among them, which it would be 
difficult for a family to set aside. They come at dif- 
ferent times of the day to the door of the missionaries, 
and when they salute them with Good morning, it is 
the same as telHng them they have eat nothing 
that day. 
17th. Thermometer at sun-rise, 48. At noon, 85. 
We had a meeting with the missionaries which lasted 
the whole day, conversing on the concerns of the 
mission. The missionaries appeared to be worthy 
men ; and from the extreme barrenness of the soil, 
the universal sand with which the country is covered, 
its nakedness, together with the great heat, they have 
Xo endure greater hardships than any of the other 
brethren in South Africa. They were very anxious 
that newspapers might be sent them from England, 
that they might know what was transacting on the 
great theatre of the world. They agreed that their 
settlement should be named Pella, as it had been a 
refuge to them from the ravages of Africaner, as 
ancient Pella had been to the Jewish Christians whee 
Jerusalem was invaded by the Romans. 
18th. Thermometer at sun-rise, 50. At noon, 83. 
Met with the missionaries the whole day considering 
the affairs of the mission. 
Observing two families removing their huts only to 
about fifty yards distance, I enquired the reason, and 
found they had been overrun with fleas, and their 
