18J1. 
SCHEME OF THE INTENDED JOURNEY. 
49 
few ; and in the course of my work I discovered that even the best 
published maps of the colony were both deficient and inaccurate- 
Nor were government, it seems, in possession of any general survey 
which could convey a correct idea of the country. A manuscript 
map, made during the Dutch government by a surveyor, named 
Leisfe, was, at this time, mentioned to me, as the unacknowledged 
source of much improvement in some maps of the colony ; but I had 
no opportunity of seeing it. 
Much of my time also, was spent in arranging and digesting my 
plans, and in collecting all the particulars that were known relative 
to the countries and nations beyond the colony. From a missionary 
of the name of Anderson, I had an opportunity of obtaining 
much satisfactory information, as he had resided for several 
years at Klaarwater, a Hottentot village on the Orange River or 
Gariep, lying in the road to a large African town, called Litdkun 
(pronounced Letdhkoon). I feel much indebted to him for the readi- 
ness with which, during his stay at Cape Town, he communicated 
those particulars which I was desirous of knowing. 
In my plan it had long been a fixed point, to make my way 
through the most inland regions, taking a direction which would 
ultimately bring me to one of the European settlements on the 
western coast within the southern tropic ; and thence to hire a vessel 
to St. Helena, where I had no doubt of meeting with every assistance 
of which I might stand in need. From that island I should not only 
find a ready opportunity of returning to England, but should also 
have many chances of soon getting a passage for my Hottentots, in 
some ship bound for the Cape. 
Every published account of the southernmost part of Africa 
agreed in stating, that, from the Cape Colony northward along the 
western coast, as far as that country had ever been visited or seen, 
the land was extremely deficient in water, and consequently barren, 
and thinly peopled ; the few inhabitants living in great poverty. 
With these accounts, all the reports I heard at the Cape corresponded. 
On the other hand, the little which was known of the interior 
regions lying on the eastern side, indicated beautiful, fertile, and 
H 
