CIIAP. IX. 
MISSION STATION AT BLINKWATER 
229 
also told us that, a day or two before, he ordered three snakes 
of the same kind, that had been killed, to he buried lest the 
children should tread on their bones, adding that the wounds 
thus caused were difficult to heal. 
In the evening we attended a meeting of the people in 
their chapel, which was well filled. George Pit, an English 
soldier, interpreted what was said into Dutch, and William 
Kaye, an intelligent Caffre, gave the substance of the address 
in his native tongue. The former, with whom we had a good 
deal of conversation, had identified himself with the people, 
and appeared to be a religious man. He had suffered the 
loss of one of his limbs in the late war. This was the first 
time I had heard the Caffre language spoken by a native, and, 
though some of the sounds were novel and not pleasing, the 
language, as spoken, was certainly soft and euphonious in an 
unusual degree. 
We had much conversation with the people afterwards 
regarding their temporal circumstances, and could only re¬ 
commend them to seek from the proper source the redress of 
the grievances of which they complained. They had suffered 
greatly from the war and from other causes, especially from 
locusts, and from the fatal disease amongst their horses 
and cattle, so that they had not a single horse left, and 
only nine head of cattle, including cows. Under such cir¬ 
cumstances some of the families found it difficult to get 
bread. 
Early the next morning we again met the people in the 
chapel, and endeavoured to address to them some words of 
encouragement. After taking breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. 
Van Royer, who are both people of colour and highly esteemed 
by the authorities, as well as others, we commenced our 
journey. After we had left the village we observed a number 
of women and children standing in front of a cluster of acacia 
bashes by the road-side, and, as we drew near, they began to 
