by night, as well as living in constant fear of being
scalped by savages or devoured by wild beasts." The observation being
true and unanswerable, he was "graciously permitted to retire from the
service," and returned to Algoa Bay. But on the whole there was little
murmuring, and no rebellion. By degrees difficulties were smoothed
down. A squatter on one of the forfeited farms, about eight miles off,
who with his family lived solely on flesh and milk, was engaged to lend
a hand with his waggon and oxen to "flit" the families to their various
locations. He also sold the settlers a few sheep. In time, more sheep
and oxen were purchased from the Dutch farmers on the Tarka, a river on
the other side of the mountains. Hottentots came from Somerset with
flour. Thatched huts replaced the tents. A few horses were obtained.
Gardens were cleared and enclosed. Trenches for irrigation were cut.
Trees were rooted out, and ploughs were set to work. Ten armed
Hottentots were sent by the magistrates of the district to which they
belonged, to guard and relieve them of night-watches, and with these
came the news that ten of their friend Opperman's cattle, and seven
belonging to their neighbour the squatter, had been carried off by
Bushmen.

At this point Sandy Black aroused the admiration of the ten Hottentots
by setting to work one morning in September--the beginning of spring in
South Africa--with a Scotch plough, which was guided entirely by himself
and drawn by only two oxen. His dark-skinned admirers had never seen
any other plough than the enormous unwieldy implement then in use among
the Dutch, which had only one handle, no coulter, was usually drawn by
ten or twelve oxen, and managed by three or four men and boys.

By degrees those of the party who were good linguists began to pick up
Dutch. Mr Pringle, especially, soon became familiar enough with it to
be able to hold a Dutch service on Sundays, in addition to the English,
for the benefit of the Hottentot guards. He also added a slight
knowledge of medicine to his other qualifications, and was thus enabled
to minister to the wants of body and soul, at a time when the people had
no regular physician or professional minister of the Gospel.

The arrival of horses gave the settlers opportunities of making more
extended and more thorough explorations of their own domain, and the
daily routine of life was varied and enlivened by an occasional visit
from the Tarka boer