218 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CIIAP. vi ir. 
gagements of the day by a devotional meeting at the 
missionary’s house, where we were joined by two or three 
English friends from the neighbourhood. The last day was 
spent in public deliberations with the people, who expressed 
themselves deeply sensible of their obligations to the Christians 
in England for the religious instruction they had long been 
receiving, and they engaged for the future to provide these 
advantages for themselves. They also expressed their hopes 
of being able, at no distant period, to assist the society in its 
widely-extended operations. We had hoped to have extended 
our journey to Grriqua town, and I had previously written to 
Mr. Moffat, and other missionaries, to meet us there; but the 
difficulty of obtaining horses, on account of the sickness and 
the state of the Vaal river beyond Philippolis, which had not 
been passable for some time, deprived us of the pleasure of 
meeting these friends, and obliged us to turn our steps back 
towards the colony. 
Late in the evening we took leave of the hospitable 
missionary and his family, and, after receiving many ex¬ 
pressions of good-will from the people of the place, proceeded 
in a waggon drawn by six horses, which they kindly lent us, 
towards the Orange River, where we arrived soon after mid¬ 
night. 
Early the next morning we recro'ssed the river without 
difficulty, and found the encampment we had left five days 
before, broken up and dispersed. As soon as our horses were 
harnessed we commenced our journey southward; but, although 
we stopped at two houses on the road, we obtained no forage 
until near sunset, when we reached a place called Driefontayn. 
Here, our cattle were not only well cared for, but, by the 
hospitality of the good people, we ourselves were provided 
with a good supper and comfortable bed. In the room in 
which we sat I noticed a Dutch translation of one of our most 
useful little books, “The Sinner’s Friend,” lying on the table 
