472 
JOURNEY IN THE COLONY. 
[1813. 
half past nine. We supped with the family and some 
stranger boors. Mr. , clerk to the deputy Land- 
drost of John Drysel's Valley, was so Mnd as to come 
to us here, and he brought me letters from the Cape 
containing gratifying intelligence respecting the king- 
dom of our Lord. Some letters to others of our comn 
pany contained a long list of persons who had died in 
Cape-town, since our departure. The death of Mr. 
Oncruydt, under whose hospitable roof I had lodged 
all the time I had been in Cape-town, affected me 
much. All the letters were silent about the affairs of 
Europe, which greatly disappointed us all, for none 
around us knew more of them than of the transactions 
in the moon. 
15th. Thermometer at noon 84. It is considered 
very cruel in Africa to kill bees in order to obtain their 
honey, especially as from flowers being there at all 
seasons, and most in winter, they can live comfortably 
all the year round. A Hottentot who was accustomed 
to kill the bees was often reasoned with by the hu- 
mane to give up so cruel a practice, yet he persisted 
in it till a circumstance occurred which determined 
him to relinquish it. He had a water-mill for grinding 
his corn, which went very slowly, from the smallness of 
the stream which turned it, consequently the flour 
dropped very gently. For some time much less than 
usual came into the sack, the cause of which he could 
not discover. At length he found, that great part of 
his flour, as it was ground, was carried off by bees to 
their hives : on examining this, he found it contained 
