24th October 1779

transcription

[page 3]
[24th October 1779]
24

't selfde weer, de wind westelyk. iets deinsig. met den avond donder lugt en enige somer drop regen.

vertrokken met den dag coers oostelyk, hier by is een hoog eiland even, ook de rivier hier omtrent, als dat by St pieters poort na schlavante by mastrigt. dit eilant heb naderhand na myn vriend Sir John Macpherson, gewesen Gouverneur van de Engelse Indien, geheten.

een half uur gegaan vonden wy de voornoemde keinkeis craal van negen mat hutjes, de meesten waren er uit gelopen en saten op de klippen. sy leven veel van visvangen. digt by hun maakte de rivier weer een kleine waterval.
alles verscheide spruiten. vol klippen; hier waren veele zeekoejen, en hoe hoger wy de rivier op gaan hoe meer er vinden
ook is hier meer gras, dus leven die dieren niet van vis. kwetsten twe, en amuseerden ons, met de bosjemans met hunne assagaayen na een halfwassene te sien werpen. sy raakten hem dog kon in 't water niet veel kwaad doen
vertrokken door dien den middag wind vroeg kwam quart voor elf. na drie uren fris marcherens al 't selfde terrein langs de rivier eerst om een bergje, daarna o t:n: de draag ossen agter blyvende ging ik in de bos langs de rivier wagte twe uren, en sy waaren voorby getrokken langs een ander pad, trok verder voort en na een drie quart uurs legerden wy ons aan de rivier in het bos; pinar bleef agter om pyn in 't lyf 't selfde terrein. passeerden tien verlatene hutten daar de matjes afgenomen waren. sag hier een hond byna als een patryshond met vlakken, hy liep schielyk weg. hier moet seker digter by bosjemans leggen nadat wy ons hier ter neder gelegt hadden sei naughaap dat syne craal synde de khiekeis of snei craal hier op een eiland lag. hy ging er na toe, en pinar kwam by my.
+[added in lower margin:] + naughaup kwam om 10 uren s'avonds met eenigen van syn craal die uit elf hutten bestaat, de ghawaup was siek, syn naam was na ba noemam sonoop. ik was al in slaap, en die hottentotten kwamen so digt rondom sitten, dat raadsaam agte myn geweer onder de conversatie ongemerkt in de handen te nemen. sy bragten my melk en ik gaf hun tabak. en sy bleven by ons de rest der nagt.

translation

[page 3]
[24th October 1779]
24

The same weather. The wind somewhat westerly. Hazy. A thundery sky in the evening with a few drops of summer rain.

Departed at dawn. Course easterly. Just here there is a high-lying island. Here too the river is more or less like it is at the Sint Pieterspoort near Slavante at Maastricht. (Later named this island after my friend Sir John Macpherson, former Governor of the English Indies.)
Continuing for half an hour we came upon the above-mentioned Keinkeis kraal consisting of nine small mat huts. Most of them had come out and were sitting on the stones. Their live mostly from fishing. Close to them the river forms another small waterfall, everywhere different streams, full of stones. There were many hippopotamuses here: the higher we go up the river, the more we find. There is more grass here too, therefore these animals do not live off fish. Wounded two and we were amused at seeing the Bushmen throwing their assegais at a half-grown one. They hit it but could not do much damage in the water. Because the noon wind came early, we departed at a quarter to eleven. After marching briskly for three hours over the same terrain along the river, first round a hill and after that east by north. The pack-oxen having stayed behind, I went into the forest next to the river and waited for two hours, and they went on past on another road. I went further on and after three quarters of an hour we made our camp in the wood by the river. Pienaar stayed behind because of a pain in his body.
The same terrain. We passed ten abandoned huts from which the mats had been taken off. Saw a dog here which had patches almost like a Drenthe partridge-dog. It ran off quickly. We are almost certainly close to the Bushmen here. After we had rested ourselves at this place Naugaup said that his kraal, the Kau keis (Sny kraal) was on an island here. He went off to it and Pienaar arrived.
At ten in the evening Naugaup came with several people from his kraal which consists of eleven huts. The Ghawaup was ill, his name was Na Ba Noemam Sonoop. I was already asleep. The Hottentots came and sat so closely around me that I thought it advisable to take my gun unobserved in my hands during the conversation. They brought me milk and I gave them tobacco; and they stayed with us for the rest of the night.