CHAPTER VIII. 
RESIDENCE AT CAPE TOWN, AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY. 
April 23d. The objects principally in view in the foregoing excursion, 
had all been attained, excepting that of hiring Hottentots for the ser- 
vice of the journey. But I did not doubt, should I succeed in ob- 
taining Jan Tamboer, that he would be able to engage as many of his 
countrymen as would be required. The petty deceptions which are 
often practised on this race of people render them in general suspicious 
of the promises of white men ; but if one of their own tribe should 
undertake to persuade, they readily listen to every thing he says, and 
often assent without giving themselves the trouble of examining the 
proposal ; relying more on the word of a Hottentot than on all the 
arguments and promises of a colonist. I therefore considered it the 
better mode to depend on this man for the management of these 
affairs. Nothing, however, could be done till his discharge from the 
regiment had been granted : for that purpose I waited on the 
