VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA. 
£71 
CHAPTER XVII. 
Gnadenthal. Account ofFeter Batje. Hottentots 7node of tanning. 
Appeal in behalf of the poor. Mr. Melville s plan of Gnadenthal. 
Hegtdations proposed by the Hottentots for the prevention of disorder. 
Appointment of overseers. Approval of Mr. Frauenf elder, deputy 
landdrost of Caledon. Mr. Melville and Schmitfs return to the 
Cape. 'Recovery of a long-lost parcel of letters. Statutes of the 
congregation. Walks about the settlement. Instance of discipline. 
The Lord's Supper on Whitsunday. Kemarks on the Brethren's 
manner of preaching. Expression of affection by the Hottentots. 
The Cutlery. Account of Philippus Appell. A Hottentot's attempt 
to obtain the captaincy of the Hesqua tribe. Conversation with 
Captain Koopman about Hottentot's Land. Prepare to leave Gna- 
denthal. 
]V[ay 12th. On our return to Gnadenthal, I found letters from 
England and from Capetown, which afforded me agreable infor- 
mation concerning the well-being of my family and friends. A 
packet of letters from Labrador, which ought to have arrived be- 
fore I went into the interior, was missing. Being Sunday, the ser- 
vices at church were as usual, and several parties of Hottentots, 
both men and women, came during the day to bid us welcome. 
13th. In the afternoon. Brother Leitner accompanied me on a 
walk down the west-side of the valley, to see a place, formerly be- 
longing to a Hottentot, Peter Batje. He had planted many fruit 
and other trees, and made a good garden on the premises. His wife 
was a woman of superior intellect, and an exemplary Christian, and 
kept the place in excellent order. After her death, he seemed to 
lose all his former good qualities, and took to drinking. No ad- 
monitions had any effect, and as his house and premises lay at some 
