1811. 
AND TWO OF THEM HIRED FOR THE JOURNEY. 
155 
been sold by the way to the boors, as they passed through the 
colony. 
As I had not yet received any decisive answer to the apph- 
cation I had made to the Governor respecting the Hottentot soldier, 
Mr. Anderson agreed to engage for me some of the Klaarwater Hot- 
tentots ; but gave me to understand, that they would not be willing 
to go with me farther than their own homes. This was not, indeed, 
sufficient for my purpose ; yet, as the time appointed for my de- 
parture was fast approaching, and considering that there might be 
some advantage in having with me, even thus far, men who were 
well acquainted with the country, 1 judged it advisable to hire two 
of them. 
Two days after this. Colonel Graham, who commanded the 
Cape regiment, obligingly sent to inform me that Jan Tamboer 
would receive his discharge, agreeably to my request. Still, how- 
ever, disappointment awaited me ; for, on the 30th of the month, 
when I rode to Wynberg to hasten these arrangements, I found him 
lying sick in the hospital, although I hoped he was not so unwell as 
ultimately to be unable to undertake the journey. 
S\st. To-day the two Klaarwater Hottentots, whose names 
were Magers and Jan Kok, commenced their service, and came to 
receive their instructions. * 
Not yet habituated to men of this description, I could not sur- 
vey my future servants without a smile at their grotesque appear- 
ance. Their dark African visage seemed at variance with their 
clothes of European fashion, made, indeed, so bunglingly, that they 
would not fit in any part. Their leathern trowsers had shrunk up 
* The Hottentots of the colony have universally adopted Dutch names, of which 
some are those of the colonists; and others have, probably, been given to them by the 
boors, as they seem to have been intended originally as characteristic epithets, applicable 
only to the individual to whom they were given : thus, Magers signifies meagre, or lean. 
Many of these are ridiculous, and their import was, perhaps, little understood by those 
who bore them; but they now pass current, and the families of Thickhead (Dikkop), 
and Rogue (Plalje), and others of this kind, are respectable enough in the estimation 
of their comitrymen. 
X 2 
