464 NAMACQUA LAND. 
of Hottentots, watching some cattle belonging to a 
distant boor. It is probable they have the cow's milk 
for their trouble. We halted only for a few minutes 
and then pushed forward to Casteel Fountain, where we 
arrived an hour before midnight. This is a small 
pool of brackish water at the bottom of a hill which is 
chiefly composed of white marble. There is a cave, 
only a few yards from the pool, in which an Englishman 
lived till lately a most solitary life. He sold some 
articles to any traveller who might pass. He was 
probably a deserter from some ship, and preferred the 
life of a hermit, in a desert, to that of a sailor on board 
of ship. 
8th. During the night the heavens were covered with 
clouds, and the wind blew, and the day partook of the 
coolness of the night, for the thermometer at noon was 
down to 78. My bowels were greatly pained during 
the night in consequence of the previous heat, but the 
return of more cool air mitigated the pain. When one 
of our people tasted the Casteel water, he pronounced 
it good, at least far better than the last, yet the dirtiest 
puddle that ever lay in one of London streets would 
be a treat compared to it, indeed I thought so at that 
time, and would have given a dollar for a tumbler 
full of it. 
Three or four days before, we left two Hottentots in 
charge of an ox which could not proceed, and were 
beginning to be anxious about their safety, when they 
arrived during the night without the ox, being obliged 
