Second Journey (MS 107/1/1-2)
28th January 1778
transcription
[28th January 1778]
28
schoon weer z:o: frisse wind.
gingen na de zeekoei, bragten hem te water hoger de rivier op omdat de wagen by de duinen niet door kon. passeerden den dag met tekenen examineren en afslagten. moesten het vel dat in zyn geheel afgeslagt had agterlaten tot morgen, kunnende de ossen, om het moeyelyk pad niet alles in eens weg ryden. schat het gewigt der swaarste zeekoei binnen de drie duisend pond. dese schoon by de elf voet lang woeg na gissing levend 21 honderd pond. lieten volk by het vel.
translation
[28th January 1778]
28
Fine weather. Fresh south-east wind.
Went to the hippopotamus and pulled it to the water higher up in the river because the wagon was not able to get through the dunes. Spent the day drawing, examining and cutting it up. We had to leave the hide, which we had entirely cut off, it behind until tomorrow because the oxen could not carry everything in one trip on account of the difficult road. Estimate that the weight of the heaviest hippopotamus would be within three thousand pounds. This, which was only about eleven foot long, weighed, twenty-one hundred pounds at my estimate. Left people with the skin.