January 17th, 1840.
During my visits to Klemzig I told Bertha that Br. Teichelmann had advised me that we should get married soon and that I even would do so if the relationship with her new mother turned out to be unfavorable. She said she was still so young and would be an old woman in just a few years.

January 18th 1840.
Today I have our quarterly £25 as Teichelmann did not want to agree to it because Mr Stephens [had] told him that it was up to us whether we wanted to move to a friend after receiving £20 from friends and £20 from the government. On his advice, I left the money in the bank with interest, where we can have it as soon as we need it.

This evening Teichelmann and me were with all three groups of natives; among the Marimeyunna we heard that the Wikandi partanna had speared his wife because of her fornication; among the Wirrameyunna, who were divided into two groups, we learned that Badni* and Yurinna* had used spears to kill Kartanyali's* wife because she did not want to comply with their indecent demands ( 218 ). I threatened the former, if he did not bring his wife alive, to tell the Governor that he was a murderer and must be hanged. To the latter we explained the wickedness of their behavior and the wrath of God against it, so that they promised not to do it again.

January 19th, 1840. Sunday.
Today Mr. Bothe and Ferdinand Aldenhoven were with us for the service; Kleinschmidt was missing. Mr. Bauer, whom I asked about Julius Fiedler's slander against my bride, told me that it consisted of the fact that she was no longer a virgin. In the afternoon I went straight to Klemzig to report it to her father; who, when I told him, answered in a fit of excitement: "The scoundrel". I didn't say anything to my bride to save her the grief she would have had about it. Mr. Fiedler has promised not to let the matter get stuck.

Bertha and I enjoyed the evening alone again, with partly joking and partly serious conversations. She had been to the sacrament today and had confessed on Saturday, where, in response to Pastor Kavel's question, she admitted that it had been beneficial for her to have been excluded from the enjoyment of the sacrament for so long; that she recognized that she had not been careful enough about what had happened; Kavel had also asked her what I said about it; ( 219 ) It seemed to him to have been upset during the examination at the time? To which she said she didn't know and she hadn't spoken to me about it. Incidentally, her confession, along with that of many others, had been read publicly by Pastor Kavel that evening. On Kavel's advice, Bertha went to Schlinke today and asked him whether he had anything against her, to which he said "No", and that he wished her

God's blessing to enjoy the Holy Communion, whereupon he would have given her