PREFACE. 
ix 
ing whether any and what tribes of native inhabitants, dwelling to the 
north-eastward of, the colony, might possess a sufficient stock of horned 
cattle, beyond the supply of their own wants, to replace the vast numbers 
which had perished in the settlement in the course of a dry and sickly 
season. Mr. Truter member of the Court of Justice and Mr. Somerville 
the garrison surgeon were appointed Commissioners of the expedition. 
The manuscript journal, of which the Author has availed himself, was 
written in Dutch by Mr. Truter. It contains a plain and detailed narrative 
of all their proceedings, as for instance the exact time they travelled on 
each day, the names of the places where they halted, the number of sheep 
bought and consumed, the quantity of knives, beads, flints and steels 
given in exchange for every ox they procured, of tobacco distributed 
among the Hottentots, and a variety of other matters which Mr. Truter, 
in his official capacity, thought it his duty to notice, but which the trans- 
lator conceived might very properly be omitted without diminishing the 
interest. He thinks it right at the same time to observe, that Mr. Truter 
is responsible only for the facts and descriptions ; and that, from his own 
knowledge of the country, the Author has taken the liberty to introduce 
many of his own remarks and observations. From this journal he has also 
laid down, on his own reduced chart, a route of the journey, which, 
though probably not strictly accurate, will be found sufficiently so for the 
assistance of future travellers. 
This article might perhaps, with more propriety, have formed an ap- 
pendix to the Author's " Travels in Southern Africa," being intimately 
connected with the same subject. At the time, however, when his Second 
Volume of that v/ork was put to the press, he understood it was the intention 
of Mr. Somerville to publi'jh an account of the expedition of which he bore a 
part, and for which he was consequently better qualified than any other per- 
son ; he therefore forebore, on this account, making use of the materials then 
in his hands. But as the Cape of Good Hope is once again a British settle- 
ment, and as Mr. Somerville seems to have wholly abandoned the idea 
of favouring the public with whatever information he may have col- 
4 
