nded a want of flour;
but the truth was, they were doubtful of her coming, and did not care to
begin till they saw her at anchor in the bay.

I have before made mention of our getting our cattle on shore. The bull
and two cows, with their calves, were sent to graze along with some
other cattle; but I was advised to keep our sheep, sixteen in number,
close to our tents, where they were penned up every night. During the
night preceding the 14th, some dogs having got in amongst them, forced
them out of the pen, killing four, and dispersing the rest. Six of them
were recovered the next day; but the two rams, and two of the finest
ewes in the whole flock, were amongst those missing. Baron Plettenberg
being now in the country, I applied to the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr
Hemmy, and to the Fiscal. Both these gentlemen promised to use their
endeavours for the recovery of the lost sheep. The Dutch, we know,
boasted that the police at the Cape was so carefully executed, that it
was hardly possible for a slave, with all his cunning and knowledge of
the country, to effectuate his escape. Yet my sheep evaded all the
vigilance of the Fiscal's officers and people. However, after much
trouble and expence, by employing some of the meanest and lowest
scoundrels in the place (who, to use the phrase of the person who
recommended this method to me, would, for a ducatoon, cut their master's
throat, burn the house over his head, and bury him and the whole family
in the ashes), I recovered them all but the two ewes. Of these I never
could bear the least tidings; and I gave over all enquiry after them,
when I was told that, since I had got the two rams, I might think
myself very well off. One of these, however, was so much hurt by the
dogs, that there was reason to believe he would never recover.

Mr Hemmy very obligingly offered to make up this loss, by giving me a
Spanish ram, out of some that he had sent for from Lisbon. But I
declined the offer, under a persuasion that it would answer my purpose
full as well, to take with me some of the Cape rams: the event proved
that I was under a mistake. This gentleman had taken some pains to
introduce European sheep at the Cape; but his endeavours, as he told me,
had been frustrated by the obstinacy of the country people, who held
their own breed in greater estimation, on account of their large tails,
of the fat of which, they sometimes made more money than of the whole
carcase besides; and who thought th