Soon after our arrival I communicated with Mr. Low as to the necessary provision for our future accommodation. It was impossible with his limited resources, that he could lodge and sustain twenty-six persons for many days; and it was plain from the distressing condition of our people, that they would require several days of careful nursing and rest, before they could bear removal by land journey.
Having learned that an English gentleman kept a store at Donkin’s Bay, twenty-four miles distant, I immediately despatched a messenger to solicit his assistance. This person, whose name was Mr. R. Fryer, proved to us to be indeed “a brother born for adversity.” No language can adequately express his unremitting kindness and unceasing exertions for our welfare, and for which he would never listen to any proposals of remuneration whatever. He came down on horseback immediately on receiving notice of our condition, and despatched a message to the nearest field cornet, to make provision for our succour. On his arrival he proposed to take the ladies at once to his house, they being the only parties fit to be removed. It may seem strange that the most delicate members of our company should have borne the hardships of our situation with greater hardihood than men of robust frame; and yet it was remarkable throughout the whole of our afflictions, that the ladies and even the children bore the sufferings with the greatest magnanimity, and discovered a spirit of patient endurance which might have put to shame the hardiest men. It is thus that God sometimes, as of old, “out of weakness maketh strong,” and causeth “things that are not to be as though they were, that no flesh should glory in his presence.”
In accordance with this arrangement, our ladies set off in a waggon for Mr. Fryer’s house, under charge of our host’s daughter, on the evening after our arrival at Oliphant River; and in twenty-four hours, the waggon returned loaded with provisions, luxuries and medicines. Mr. Fryer also sent four sheep on the same day, and gave his shepherd orders to supply us with as many as we wanted; and yet these things were but a tithe of the kindness which we received at the hands of this good Samaritan.
We were at this time also under great obligations to Mr. Francis J. Troutar, who had come down the river at this time, along with his mother-in-law and a few servants, to fish. The good old lady took our three children to her hut, supplied them with frocks and underclothing, and treated them with the solicitude and kindness of a mother, so as to merit our warmest gratitude.
In the course of a few days, the effects of our long fasting and exposure and fatigues began to appear, and to make shocking havoc on the persons of our people, in loathsome bloaches on the face, and excessive swelling of the arms and legs. The steward was particularly in a pitiable condition with his face, and one of the cabin passengers was confined to his couch. One of his legs burst, and his hand was obliged to be laid open by a deep incision of a razor, so that I was afraid at one time, that he would not rally. In the course, however, of four or five days, through the unremitting nursing of the Dutchman’s family, and by the kind providence of God, we all began to amend. Our recovery soon revealed itself in an incessant craving for food; for some days it was almost impossible to satisfy our intense appetite, and we were in danger of creating a famine in the Dutchman’s settlement, as a sheep was killed every day for our use, and we consumed great quantities of wheat, which we prepared for boiling by pounding it in a mortar, and sometimes made into bread after grinding it in a hand-mill.
On the 13th January I received a letter from Mr. Rennyfield, civil commissioner, Clan William, to meet him at Mr. Fryer’s on the following day, in company with Mr. Troutar. We accordingly set off next morning, at five o’clock, and as I was but an indifferent horseman, I was greatly exhausted by the ride. The country in this quarter is chiefly sandy, and blows with the wind like dust, but it is thickly studded with sundry kinds of shrubs and bushes, which are valuable for the feeding of cattle and sheep. On reaching my destination, I was most hospitably received by Mr. Fryer, and his lady, and was happy to find my lady passengers in good health and spirits. The civil commissioner made full arrangements with me for our journey to Cape Town. I received a letter to produce to each field cornet on the route, containing instructions to provide us with waggons, and to supply us with every necessary on the road. Mr. Troutar, who was the field cornet of the district, was to provide the waggons and to be our conductor through the first stage; and our departure was arranged for the 19th of January, by which time it was hoped that our invalids would be so far recovered as to bear the journey.
On the day appointed we prepared for our departure amidst much bustle and confusion. The yoking of fourteen or sixteen oxen in a waggon is like getting an East India trader under weigh, and the chattering of the Hottentots in the excitement of the occasion was quite amusing. The scene of separation with our dear friends and deliverers was exquisitely affecting. The kind Dutchman’s family were weeping aloud; Mr. Troutar’s mother-in-law clung to our little orphan family, and refused to part with them; even the Hottentots could not refrain their tears. I confess that I never felt myself so unmanned in my life, and it was only after an hour had been wasted in ineffectual efforts to say farewell, that by a desperate resolution we at last tore ourselves away. They followed us for a short distance, and then stood, and waved their hands as long as we could see them. Thus we parted from kind strangers, who had entwined themselves around our hearts in fondest endearments; and while memory holds her seat in our bosoms, I trust that we shall never cease to pray for richest blessings on the heads of our benevolent friends of the Oliphant River.
We reached Mr. Fryer’s at Donkin’s Bay about midnight, where our party was rejoined by the ladies, and we remained in the enjoyment of this excellent family’s hospitality until the next afternoon. Another painful scene of leave-taking had here to be repeated, and it was with difficulty that our ladies could command themselves in parting, from one who had proved so lavish in his generosity to all of us in our distress. “May the Lord reward him,” and “think upon him for good,” according to all the kindness that he showed unto us.
It would be tedious to enter into minute details of our land journey to the Cape. It presented all the usual adventures of that tedious mode of travel;—sometimes ploughing sandy deserts deep to the axles,—and occasionally land-locked by an interminable maze of tangled brushwood. Frequently we lost our path in the darkness, the over-laboured brutes were many times at a stand-still from exhaustion, and scarcity of water; and once or twice, we had nearly suffered a second shipwreck in the desert, to the great alarm of the ladies, and not without the hazard of broken bones.
Mr. Troutar accompanied us with his waggons and cattle, through several dreary stages, until we reached Mr. Vanzells’ farm. This gentleman was uncle to our worthy conductor, and also a field cornet. Here we obtained fresh cattle, and started under a new convoy. It was with extreme regret that we parted from Mr. Troutar, whose kind and gentlemanly deportment had endeared him to us all. I was also compelled to leave Mr. Harris our cabin passenger here, under charge of our surgeon, as he was so ill as to be unable to proceed; Mr. Vanzells promising to forward both gentlemen to Cape Town on horseback, so soon as Mr. Harris was able to bear the journey. After travelling by uneasy stages for several days, we crossed the Peak Berg range of mountains, the Boers throughout treating us with unvarying kindness, and we furnishing much amusement to the inquisitive and simple people, by the strangeness of our dress, and speech, and psalmody.