288 
JOURNAL OF A 
in the liioli mountains being impassable, I gave up my intention of 
going to Groenekloof by Rodesand and Tulbacli. 
The missionaries Clemens and Leitner, with Sister Leitner, having 
resolved to accompany me to Groenekloof, our departure was fixed 
for the following morning. But hearing that it was no longer pos- 
sible to pass the ford of the Sonderend, I confess I felt pleased with 
the prospect of delay; for my regret at leaving Gnadenthal and its 
worthy inhabitants, was hourly on the increase. 
In the evening, the family met to take leave of me. I endea- 
voured, as well as I was able, to express to all, and each of them, 
the grateful sense I had, and shall ever retain, of the undissembled 
brotherly love and confidence which 1 enjoyed during my abode in 
this place, as likewise my view of the present state of the Mission, and 
my heartfelt, fervent, and never-ceasing desire and prayer, that a 
special blessing might rest upon the labours of each of the Brethren 
and Sisters employed in it, both now apd in succession. Brother 
Clemens, the warden, in the name of all the missionaries, answered 
me in a most affectionate address. Of this last evening at Gna- 
denthal, I spent part Avith Father Schw inn, and part with Father 
Marsveld, in pleasant and profitable conversation. 
The state of Father Schwinn's health was very precarious. It 
did not appear, as if we should much longer enjoy the services of 
this faithful labourer in the Lord's vineyard. Father Marsveld was 
above seventy 3^ears old, and begins, in various ways, to feel the 
infirmities of age, but his spirit is lively, and both his fellow-labour- 
ers, and the Hottentots, prayed that he might be preserved in health 
and activity many years longer. 
