198 
RECEPTION AT PIETER JACOBS'S. 
7 July, 
retired to bed : no one was stirring, except a Hottentot, whom the 
noise of the waggons awoke as they passed his hut. He pointed out 
the place where we might unyoke, and assisted my men in their 
search after fire-wood. The night having become very cold, a fire 
was doubly necessary, both for the purpose of warming ourselves, 
and of cooking our supper. 
1th. The early part of the morning was exceedingly chilling; 
and the thermometer was, probably, not many degrees above the 
freezing point ; the snow, at the same time, lying on one of the 
neighbourino; mountains. 
As soon as the family were up, I delivered to the mistress of 
the house a letter, which her daughter at Piet Hugo's had requested 
me to take charge of, and which did me all the service of a letter of 
introduction. The old lady and her husband received me with great 
cordiality and good-nature. A cup of coffee and a slice of bread and 
butter were immediately handed to me by one of the daughters, of 
whom three were then living at home. The father seemed a plain, 
honest farmer : the appearance of his dwelling indicated neither 
affluence nor comfort ; yet the family looked contented and happy. 
The situation of the house was bleak and exposed, and exhibited 
but little display of art or cultivation around it. At the back, 
extended a wild flat, bounded by high rocky mountains. One large 
room, having a mud floor, and a single glazed window, showing, by 
its broken panes, proofs of the scarcity of glass, constituted the prin- 
cipal part of the house. At one end were the bed-rooms ; and a 
door through the back wall, opened into the kitchen. Hanging from 
the rafters of the thatched roof, were seen a heterogeneous assem- 
blage of domestic utensils and stores. The other end was filled by 
a very wide and deep fire-place, exactly resembling that of an English 
farm-house ; and a large iron cauldron of boiling soap was standing 
over the fire. A small window near the fire-place was, at this sea- 
son, kept constantly closed with a wooden shutter, in order to keep 
out the cold wind, as it had neither sash nor glass. Against the 
wall, under the glazed window, stood a small table, partly occupied 
by a little old-fashioned coffee-urn, an article in continual employ. 
