514 
LETTER TO MR. POLEMANN. 
14, 15 Jan. 
' to believe is spoken over a very large extent of country. I have 
' engaged a native for this purpose alone. I have not yet seen a 
' camelopardalis, though I Have made two or three meals from one. 
' Did any one in Cape Town observe a comet which 1 first perceived 
' on the 30th of October, near the constellation Lyra ? By the 20th 
' of November it was so near to the sun that it was no longer 
' visible. When I first saw it, I was high up the Vaal river, away 
« from the rest of my party, with one of my waggons, on a hippo- 
' potamus hunt, when we shot two of those animals, and saw many 
' more. During this part of my excursion, I had no other bed than 
' the bank of the river, nor other covering at night than the sky, 
' yet I experienced not the least inconvenience from it. My only 
' food was ' karbonadjes' of hippopotamus, without bread or salt. 
' The scenery here was picturesque, the river a very fine stream ; and 
' it will be long before I forget the contemplative solitary rambles 
' I often took along its banks. The Bushmen slept on the ground 
' every night close by us, and were happy at the rencontre, as we 
' loaded each of them with as much meat as he could carry away. 
' I should have been happy then, at having a companion by me to 
' participate in the pleasure these scenes gave me. The smooth 
' glassy surface of the river, which reflected like a mirror the beau- 
' tiful thick trees that clothed each bank ; the notes of a multitude 
' of strange birds among their branches ; the Bushmen busy in dry- 
' ing their share of the meat ; and the serenity of the atmosphere, 
' added to the tranquillity that reigned around us ; made a delight- 
' ful impression on my mind. I look forward to much enjoyment in 
' the future part of my journey ; and am convinced that, for a mind 
' susceptible of that pleasure which the contemplation of Nature 
' affords, nothing can give greater gratification than such an expedi- 
' tion as this. And if it must be so, that I am to return to Cape 
* Town, I shall then renew these pleasures by relating to you more 
' fully what I have seen.' 
My packet, which, besides seven letters of my own, contained 
four belonging to the missionaries, was addressed to the Landdrost 
of Tulbagh, to be forwarded by the Field-cornet Gerrit Maritz j and 
