and the vessel which was flying the Admiral's flag also saluted me with seven guns. I answered with a similar number. There were in this fleet three flags, those of Admiral*, Vice-Admiral and Rear-Admiral. The fruit they sent me was excellent and so were the vegetables. The melons were very good, and the grapes better than those in France. I walked in their beautiful garden*, which reminds one of the gardens of France. The vegetables grown there in quantities, were a source of pleasure to our crews, for the Governor gave orders that they were to be supplied with as much as they could take. The quinces, too, which were there in numbers, we found excellent for the voyage....
The Governor is a very intelligent man, and very suitable for a colony, and it is said that if he remains here for long he will make it a very lovely one. If there are any Dutchmen who wish to settle there, he gives them as much land as they desire, has houses built for them, and gives them oxen for ploughing and all the other animals and tools which they need, the value of them to be repaid to the Company when they are able. They must sell all their produce of their lands to the Company only, at a fixed price which is profitable to it and to the colonists. The wine which it buys at sixteen dollars the hogshead from them, it sells again for a hundred to foreigners and to their own fleets which come here: that is to say, to the sailors who drink it here. Sheep, oxen and other things are sold in a similar way, bringing a large income to the Company, and allowing the fleets to refresh there at small cost, staying a month or even six weeks.
When I arrived the Governor was not long since returned from an expedition* he had made to search for gold and silver mines: he had brought various ores with him. It is said, that these mines have much gold and silver, and that they are very easy to work, not being deep. He went inland more than 250 miles, taking 3 or 4 Cape Hottentots who spoke Dutch: these took him to the nearest tribe, from which he took along others. He met up to nine different tribes, taking men along from them as the tribes changed, so as to make himself understood, and thus got very much information in reply to his questions. He said, that the last tribe met [Namaqua] was the most civilised, and that men, women and children came dancing to meet him, all clothed in tiger-skins, long cloaks that hung to their feet. He brought one of these Hottentots back with him [sic: not a Namaqua], and was having him taught Dutch, to go again with him next year. All these tribes have much cattle, their only riches. The Governor had with him 50 soldiers; an artist [Claudius*] to paint in colours the animals, birds, snakes and plants which he should find; a surveyor to map the route; a Mate (since they marched always by the compass); and three hundred oxen to carry their provisions and draw 13 or 15 carts. When they encountered hills, they took the carts to pieces and loaded them on the oxen, to cross them. When he had gone somewhat far inland he was for three days without finding water, which greatly irked him. The journey took 5½ months, and in it he met with many wild beasts. He said, that the elephants there are large, and much larger than those of India. There are also terrifyingly large rhinoceroses: one of these nearly killed him, since when this animal is enraged no weapon can halt him. His hide is very hard, even hard enough to turn musket-balls: to kill them they must be hit just at the right
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