1811. 
LAST VIEW OF THE KY-GARIEP. 
447 
agreed to accompany me ; but the Klaarwater Hottentots showed no 
such disposition to obhge. They talked of nothing but the diffi- 
culties and dangers of the course I wished to take ; there was, they 
said, no beaten road ; a certain steep, rocky ascent, would be found 
impassable ; the hook-thorns would tear our clothes to pieces ; the 
lions would eat up half our oxen ; and, finally, the Bushmen, who 
in that direction were uncommonly savage, would murder us all. 
In this manner they are too often in the habit of inventing any tales 
that may answer their own views ; for, the truth was, they wished to 
join the party of women whom we had left behind cutting rushes ; 
and, finding that Mr. Jansz and I were not to be dissuaded from our 
purpose, they left us, and drove oflT, taking the road to the rush- 
cutters. 
With some persuasion, Kok, the Klaarwater chief, was at last 
induced to accompany us, as the missionary stated to him that the 
principal object which he had in view, was to ascertain whether a 
settlement might not be formed at a certain place known by the 
name of Groote Fontein (Great Fountain) which lay in a north-west- 
ward direction. 
Our party, therefore, consisted of Dam's two waggons, with his 
wife and family, and another Hottentot waggon, besides the mission- 
aries and my own two ; mustering, with the women and children, 
above twenty persons, with about half that number of dogs. These 
faithful animals might now be looked at, without exciting that 
painful compassion for their wretched lean bodies which one could 
not help feeling when they first left Klaarwater. Their sleek and 
improved appearance, their contented looks, declared them to have 
been living in plenty and enjoyment, heightened at the same time 
by perfect freedom. 
I now took my final view of the Yellow River, and of the plea- 
sant woods which mark its winding course. I had derived so much 
pleasure from its scenery, that I left it with regret ; and while I still 
surveyed its glittering surface, my imagination personified its ever- 
flowing stream, and warmly apostrophized it with a last farewell. 
