Bladsye 376 - 379

Monday 21 May 1798

We left these good people, and passed nothing worth marking down, heath and hill being all, enlivened by a few partridges some of which Johnnie shot, till we arrived at the House of  Jacob Conradie . . . they had not supped which I was glad of, as I wished to see what their own fare was. I need not describe it - nothing could be nastier . . . A Soup of Giblets in transparent grease, some pieces of boil'd mutton which had been dried nearly without salt and was now very tough and unchewable, vegetables of different kinds, which had been boil'd in nasty pans, the only thing I could eat was potatoes and a beef Sausage they broiled for me as I fortunately happened to mention before supper that I thought the sausages were good at the Cape. They are very good natured and attentive to catch up any occasion of marking a desire to please, the Sausage was too full of Cinnamon and cloves to be very engaging but cinnamon and all, I contrived to manage it.

The Boor, with his Wife - a pair of tall young Vrows (Anna, c5d1, was 17 en Rosa, c5d2 was 15 - Piet)  and a pair of taller (? - Piet) sons (Skynbaar is Johannes, c5d3, vroeg oorlede. c5d4, Jacobus, was 10 en c5d5, Willem, sou 5 jaar oud wees met die besoek - Piet) composed the family. Mr. Barnard finding they made but half a leager of wine anually (about 15 dozen) and that bad, proposed introducing the Gin which was as usual drank cheerfully by Mynheer, refused by the Vrows, but ultimately accepted of by all. For our accommodation there was but one room, and that a very small one, with one broadish Sofa bed and a narrower. Mr. Prince . . . the people of the House . . . the Sons . . .  the daughters . . . the Slaves and all the etceteras were to sleep in the room we supped in, so there was no choice for the Aid du Camp but to make one of the party with us or with the others.

The last seemed much against his inclination and as to the first, there is a puzzle of a Fox, a goose, and a bag of Oats . . . to put the Fox and the goose  together would never do, so after a little consideration we settled it that the two Foxes had better sleep together in one hole, and the two geese, viz. the Anne & Anne Elizabeth in the other nest. This arranged, we made the best Toilette we could, for as to glass we had none, except such as our Toothpick cases &c afforded us, and retired to rest. But rest was not easily to be found  ... I wish this country was as well stock'd with Men as it is with fleas, it would be well for it and not bad for the fleas, here we found Legions - but where do we escape them?  . . . I am now so accustomed to the sort of Torment that I even say nothing of it to you all in my Journal, to be bit to death is so much a matter of course  . . . Anne Elizabeth and I kept watch and not without our amusement. I could not sleep . . . the Gentlemen were sound in a moment. Johnnie we soon found talks in his sleep, and about 4 in the morning he begun dreaming, and conversing with Anne Elizabeth. At first she thought he was talking to her, but it was in vision only.

"Upon my Soul" said he "it was a d--d knowing thing in you, to come to this Country with your bit of Dutch and then to pretend that you can talk better than any of us."

What Anne Elizabeth replied to this we could not tell, as he did not talk for her tho' he did for himself. But he continued the conversation for some time till our laughing awoke Mr. Barnard and then Johnnie, who equally complained of Miss Barnard & of the fleas, indeed we were all so miserable that we thought it was best to get up.

Tuesday May 22nd 1798 ....  The family were all dressed, & had drank the dish of Coffee with which they begin the day . . . they rise by candle light here, all the year round, stinting themselves much as we should imagine in sleep, did not the two hours Nap they take in bed after dinner make amends for their early rising. They certainly make the most of life by contriving to have two days and nights out of every 24 hours, and their plurality of meals . . . two dinners in one day, being equal to their plurality of Sleeps; but I do not like their division of time, nor the effects it produces either on the mind or body, sloth & constant eating being certainly the cause of the unwieldy fat, which they have not an idea of preventing or regretting, looking upon it entirely as a matter of course, nor am I sure they are not a little vain of it, as it testifys good fare and enough of it.

When we dressed ourselves and got into the next room we found Mr. Barnard making his Toilette in the corner, and busily talking Dutch with the young Vrows, who had attended him thro' all the manoeuverings of a tidy mans morning ablutions. He laughed and winked to me, they were admiring every thing.

A Tooth brush they had never seen before, nor indeed any thing else almost, combs excepted. I went into the Kitchen . . . the roof was hung as full of dried meat of different kinds as the Drup Kelder was of petrifactions, but chiefly of mutton and Buck . . . it was filled with Servants belonging to the farm - Hottentots &c, but such good fare as the dried meat comes not to their lot, I believe I have before mentioned somewhere that they have rarely any thing given them but bread, at some of the farm houses they are still worse off, getting the 4th part of a raw pampoon, a sort of pumkin or bad melon, which they carry into the fields with them when they have cattle to tend, it must last them for the day.

I had on some former occasions been at a little pains to know what wages the farmers give to the Hottentots and I made Mr. Prince as from himself ask a few questions which were answered in a manner to shew that what I had heard was true.

A Clever Hottentot who can manage a farm plough and transact the various businesses of it for his Master, has sometimes 2 rix dollars per month (eight shillings) and his food. But few have so much wages. . . One rix dollar and their food is more usual, some prefer having cloths and food to money, others like food and a couple of cattle at the end of the year; . . . a year is the common term they hire for, and the wages becoming due the last day of it they have a right to receive it the first day of the new year; Some farmers pay their people honestly, others are little better than crimps and entrap the poor Hottentots as completely as a Soldier is entrapped who gets drink and is persuaded to pocket a shilling.

As the first day of the year is a holyday, a dishonest Master has often been known to treat his Hottentots with wine, when they have come for their wages, pretending great cordiality with them, they (flattered and simple) are not aware when he says be so kind as to do, so or so perhaps to milk the cow or wash some thing, that the moment they have done so, he adds now you have begun another year of Service and cannot go. Mr. Barnard thinks this cannot be law, but it is a sort of law the Farmers have made amongst themselves, and they will always support each other thro' any act of oppression.

Amongst others there was a Hottentot Woman in the Kitchen so near her time that she could not have many days to depend on. I made Pawell ask her if she had any thing to put on the little one, he did - she shook her head . . . did she expect to lie in soon. She shook her head again . . . is her Husband belonging to the Farm.

"I need not ask her that" said Pawell, "she would not know him from Adam . . . they have no Husbands my lady."

"So much the worse for them Pawell - but tell her then, that here is some check to make cloths for the Clyne Kint when it comes."

The poor creature now Blosh'd as Pawell said with pleasure and surprise . . . A present for the Child she was to have - she did not quite understand it, but it was very entertaining & she laughed heartily. I saw the ceiling of the room in which we had supped the night before was used as Store room to the family, every thing was hanging in it, particularly a quantity of tobacco, which Mynheer thought was better than that I had brought from the Cape with me.

Whatever I looked at, or mentioned the two good natured strange Girls (Anna & Rosa - Piet) brought me with with unaffected generosity. I had given them some of my Stores . . . they could not in return heap enough on me. I even saw they had secreted dried buck and Sausages in the waggon because I had praised them; on departure they  permitted Mr. Prince to pay them for our horses, and fare, but they added, or rather would have added, honest people, gifts of their simple sort, worth more than their bill came to. This was very unlike the inhabitants of Cape Town. We now got into our waggon after giving them a cordial invitation to the Castle, and proceeding on our journey, falling down first into a valley rendered almost green by a variety of such plants as our green houses in Europe are stocked with.

.... he proposed that we should reach the Brant Fly (Brandvlei) Baths that evening where he promised us excellent accommodation ..... These Baths are at 40 miles distance from Jacob Conradies ......