The roof was thatched with a hard sort of rushes, more durable and less likely to catch fire than straw.

There was no ceiling under the roof, but the rafters overhead were hung with a motley assemblage of the produce of the chase and farm, as large whips made of rhinoceros-hide, leopard and lion skins, ostrich eggs and feathers, strings of onions, rolls of tobacco, bamboos, etc.
The house contained one large eating-room, a small private room, and two bedrooms.

The windows were not glazed, but closed with skins every night.

There was no chimney or stove in the house, all the cooking being carried on in a small outhouse.
The furniture was not very considerable: a large table, a few chairs and stools, some iron pots and kettles, a set of Dutch teacups, a teapot, and a brass kettle, with a heater.

The large, brass-clasped, family Dutch Bible occupied a small table, at which the mistress of the house presided, and behind her chair were the carcasses of two sheep, suspended from a beam.
Inquiries about the news at the Cape, and details of all the information which our travelers could give, had occupied the time till breakfast was put on the table.