Note 48 — III. Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel. A History of the Successful Struggle of a few Hollanders and Huguenots against Tyranny and Corruption.

Two fragments of a journal kept by Adam Tas have been preserved: one from the 13th of June to the 14th of August 1705, in the archives at the Hague, the other, from the 7th of December 1705 to the 27th of February 1706, in the South African public library in Capetown, and they give a graphic picture of life in the country districts at the time. Whenever a friend came to his house or he went to a friend’s, they at once sat down to chat and drink wine and smoke tobacco, when if the party was large and included wives and daughters, playing cards was resorted to as a pastime. The quantity of coffee and tea consumed was very large. The vicious custom of returning incorrect numbers of cattle and sheep for taxation purposes was already prevalent, and Tas, who was certainly not a dishonest man in other matters, was unable to see that this was a crime deserving punishment. Professor Leo Fouché, of Pretoria, has copied these interesting fragments, and informs me that he intends to publish them.