86 VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. [December, 
and their success has been every way equal to their dihgence 
and good conduct, neither of which has ever been surpassed. 
The former desert, under their management, in the short space 
of three years, has become a dehghtful garden, and " blossoms 
like the rose." 
During the season previous to the arrival of the Potomac, 
there were produced in this settlement four hundred and fifty 
muids of wheat, fifteen hundred muids of barley, and four hun- 
dred muids of Indian corn, besides large quantities of Kaffer corn, 
potatoes, pumpkins, sweet cane, and. other provisions. . Inde- 
pendently of the labour required in the cultivation of the soil, 
instances of uncommon exertion are manifested in the construc- 
tion of canals, which convey water to irrigate their fields and gar- 
dens. In some' places, these have been carried through the solid 
rock; in others it has been necessary to cut to the depth of twelve 
feet to preserve the level, while their entire length, throughout all 
the locations, is upwards of twenty thousand yards. 
There are two missionaries in this settlement, both of whose 
chapels are always filled, and several schools crowded with or- 
derly and intelligent children. There is not a single magistrate, 
lawyer, or physician in the village ; and, as a natural consequence, 
they have had no strifes, divisions, discontents, or diseases among 
them. And yet, with this picture of rural happiness before 
their eyes, there were men in the colony who, from mere motives 
of cupidity, were base, enough to join in a conspiracy for attack- 
ing and destroying this peaceful little settlement. While the 
Potomac was lying at Cape Town, near the close of the year 
1831, this diabolical plan was in agitation. The following account 
of it was published in the Cape Literary Ga^zette the very day be- 
fore the frigate sailed. 
" The overt facts of this conspiracy are briefly these : About 
the close of 1831, rumours were industriously circulated, by per- 
sons unknown, among the Dutch African boors of the eastern 
frontier, to the effect that the Hottentots of Kat river were pre- 
paring to attack them on New- Year's day. The boors promptly 
assembled in arms under their veld-cornets ; and these local 
functionaries, instead of communicating the information to the 
government, immediately led their rude militia to attack the Hot- 
tentots. Fortunately, the frontier commandant. Colonel Somerset, 
