174 
PAMPOEN KRAAL. 
20, 21 June, 
in this custom : it was one which certainly owed its origin to no 
other feehng than that of heartfelt goodwill. The journey they 
had left us to pursue, was long and not free from danger : none of 
us could feel assured of meeting again. The missionaries were about 
to take up their residence for several years on the other side of the 
Gariep, and in that time the ordinary casualties of human life might 
naturally be expected to lessen our number. For some time after 
their friends were lost to our view, we continued to hear the reports 
of their pistols ; to which we as often replied, till, crossing the 
mountain, we could hear each other no longer. 
It had been agreed that we should generally proceed only by easy 
stages, that the strength of the oxen might not be exhausted before 
we reached Klaarwater : and this slow progress perfectly accorded 
with my views of travelling. We therefore unyoked at an outspan- 
place, called Pampoen Ki'aal, (Pumpkin Kraal) ; where, during the 
stillness of the night, we could plainly hear the noise of the surf on 
the shore of Table Bay. 
21s/. From midnight till two o'clock this afternoon, there was 
a continuance of rain : this occasioned the wood to be so wet, that 
we had great difficulty in making fires. The veld-cornet here, paid a 
visit to our waggons, merely out of curiosity to know who we were. 
We purchased from him some wine and bread, and I obtained also a 
voojiouw (fore-rope) or short trektouw, which, it was found, would 
be required occasionally to hook on at the end of the draw-rope, 
whenever it was necessary to employ a larger team than ten or twelve 
oxen. We soon observed that my waggon was so heavily laden, that 
fewer than fourteen were not enough to draw it ; and that, in conse- 
quence of so disproportionate a weight resting on these narrow wheels, 
the waggon had once or twice, in the course of the day before, escaped 
sinking into the ground, only by whipping the oxen hastily over 
those parts of the road where the ground happened to be softer than 
in others. 
At this place grows in abundance a small plant * said by the 
* Euplm-bia tuber osa. 
