food. He had either heard or supposed that I had received something, and therefore thought he must have a part. Colonel Cuyler had given me nine knives and a few handkerchiefs, and said, 'Take these, and give to those who may have done any thing for you;' and of this circumstance, I conjecture, Gaika had been apprized. The chiefs who were with Gaika received presents also, but none of them so many as he. I heard that it was intended to have kept the chiefs to dine with his Excellency, and that he intended to amuse them by firing the two field-pieces, which were loaded with ball for that purpose; but they ran away without allowing any opportunity for this display.

"The order was immediately given to retreat. The landdrost Cuyler then called me up, and put a paper into my hands with this question, 'Do you know any thing of this?' referring to two horses and three Hottentots mentioned in the paper-the horses as having been stolen, and the Hottentots as deserters from the colony; and it had been reported to him, it seems, that they were at the institution. 'With regard to one of the horses,' I said, there was such a horse as was described here, but how the man came by it I knew not; and the other I knew nothing of.' It was stated that John Tzatzoe rode the horse the day before. I therefore called John, and, on inquiring, it proved that the horse was Gaika's. With respect to the Hottentots, I could not, for the moment, recollect there were any runaway Hottentots at the institution, although there were two of whom I knew; but in about five minutes I recollected them, and then acquainted Colonel Cuyler with it. He then said, with a great air of authority, insist upon it that you exert yourself in getting them by

I

the time I come up, and have all your people paraded.' I replied, 'Colonel Cuyler, I think you had better take that upon yourself, for I am not their commander; I have no authority or command over them, nor any means of protection for myself should I take so much upon me:' adding, that I was in an enemy's land, and should I do any thing to displease them, I should immediately endanger my life. Then,' said he,' you had a d――d deal better be somewhere else, in my opinion.' He moreover said, 'Will you do it?—say yes or no; I will have no equivocation. If you will not do it, I will take means to make you do it; I will report you to the governor.'

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"At this unexpected and undeserved abuse, I was seized with astonishment, and cut to the heart to think that I had been a slave of the colonial authorities for the sake of peace, and that such was my reward. However, when Colonel Cuyler came, accompanied by his Lordship, Captain Sheridan, the Doctor, the dragoons, and a party of boors, I had the people collected together, and one of the horses; the other could not be found. The one which was here they immediately owned.

"Then the landdrost Cuyler, addressing himself to the governor, said, 'Here, my Lord, is a stolen horse.' And the two Hottentots, of whom I had given information, came uncalled; and these two immediately gave information of four more runaways, of whom I had no knowledge. Then said Colonel Cuyler, again, 'Here, also, are runaway Hottentots, transgressing against the laws of the colony.' His Lordship then said to me, I cannot allow you to receive and keep my people here, as Messrs. Read and Anderson do.'

VOL. II.

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I replied, My Lord! I do not receive nor keep your people.* I knew of only two who were from the colony, and these I neither received nor kept. If I had taken them into my service, or by any means supported them, I might be accused of receiving and keeping them. Moreover, this is a land where every one is his own lord. The inhabitants go and come where and when they please; and I am neither a captain nor a landdrost to call them to an account, were I ever so disposed; for when men are in this land, they are beyond the bounds of civil controul: and were I, who am a single individual in the midst of enemies and savages, to take so much upon me as to lay hold of them, or be the cause of their apprehension, or to drive them from this place, and have any thing to do with stolen property, I should immediately endanger my life and my family. And the natives would, moreover, say, that I was come to entrap them, instead of instructing them in the truths of Christianity. You, my Lord, and every gentleman present, know what a hazardous situation mine is. I therefore hope your Lordship will take this into serious consideration, and exempt me from such a perilous responsibility.'

"His Lordship then called me aside, and said, 'You must know that it is very injurious to the colony to have the people desert it. There we have a most beautiful country, and none to cultivate it. I shall there

* There were then no grounds for such complaints against Mr. Anderson or Mr. Read. Mr. Williams had only commenced his mission among the Caffers; but the influence of the missionaries at Lattakoo and Griqua Town was by this time sufficiently established to prevent the Bechuanas or the Griquas from countenancing deserters from the colony.

fore expect from you that, when you write concerning those who run away from the colony, you will not connive at their desertion, but mention what you know.' This I promised I would do. His Lordship then asked to what society I belonged? How many people resided here? If all the houses he saw had been built since I had been here? If the people had gardens? And, if any were converted? He then departed.

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Captain Sheridan, before going, took me by the hand, and said, 'Mr. Williams, I wish you every success; and I doubt not but you will have it.' He is a gentleman I know nothing of; but it did me good to think they were not all against me.* But Colonel Cuyler, full of envy and malice, said, 'I wish you may do better! Things are going on very bad here, in my opinion.""

When it is recollected that Gaika was so distrustful of the intentions of the government that Mr. Williams had to pledge his honour and life for his security; and when to this are added the delicate circumstances in which the missionary himself was placed, it will be readily admitted that the treatment he met with, in this instance, was as inconsistent with sound policy as it was with the spirit of benevolence.

* This gentleman, whose conduct to Mr. Williams formed so striking a contrast to that of Colonel Cuyler, was Mr. Thomas Sheridan, then Colonial Paymaster at the Cape, and eldest son of the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan, M.P.

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CHAPTER X.

Illness and Death of Mr. Williams.-Distressing situation of his Widow.-Attachment of the People.-Mrs. Williams* return into the Colony.-Death and Character of the Chief Sicana.-Specimen of his Poetry.-Settlement of Mr. Brownlee at the Chumi.— His Account of the State of the People.-Treatment of the Ghonaquas.-Mr. Brownlee's Visit to Hinza.-New Institution at the Buffalo River.-Exertions of the Glasgow and Wesleyan Missionaries in Cafferland.-Latest Accounts.

WHILE this faithful and assiduous missionary was sowing the seed of which others are now reaping the harvest, he fell a victim to a course of laborious exertions beyond the physical powers of any ordinary man.

The following extracts, from a little journal kept by Mrs. Williams at this time, convey a lively picture of her very peculiar and trying situation:

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August 20 (1818). This morning the fever had much increased. He got out of bed, quite wild; but, through weakness, was obliged to lie down again. In the course of the day the people came to me, requesting that I would send into the colony to let my friends know that Mr. Williams lay so ill. I told them that I had not permission from government to send Caffers into the colony. They pressed hard, saying I was there a lone woman with my two little children, and my husband so ill-it was too hard for them-they could not bear it.

"21. This morning I despatched two men into the colony. This was the Lord's day, and to me the most