458 SOUTH-WEST PROTECTORATE NATIVE POPULATION. 



The Herero in war wore tiger skins and bore assegais and 

 two kerries; but these were not carried on horseback. Avhen 

 horses began to be used in fight against the Hottentots. 



The women wore sheep-skin cloaks and a veil of sheep 

 skin falling from the head behind, with three horns of raw 

 leather above. The lower leg was covered with rings of iron 

 beads, a skin well braised was also worn before ^nd behind the 

 waist. 



The Hereros were too proud to work ; they made the Berg- 

 damara do so, except at Okambahe^ where these were unmolested. 



They worshipped two Httle sticks called ancestors, the male 

 a wand of Ovampuvu and the female of wild plum; thtv placed 

 daily milk gourds from the sacred cattle before them. Human 

 pairs came from a tree at the call of a great magician, and 

 animals also, but it was dark ; the first Klip Kaffir, bungling, lit 

 a fire, and the wild beasts fled away. But the Herero procured 

 a bull and cow, and then all their languages were confounded. 

 I thank the late magistrate of Omaruru for chis and other 

 information. 



The Hereros lost their cattle in the rinderpest ; they were 

 gradually recovering it, by exchanging sheep, when the rebellion 

 supervened. They produced no iron work', which was left to 

 the Ovambo. The Ovambo to-day do not bury (except the 

 Ndonga, whose chief, Martin, is a Christian). They puf a reim 

 round the leg, and drag the corpse from the village. Old lions 

 ate them and developed a taste for human flesh. 



I abstain from telling at length that, besides copper, gold and 

 iron, are found in the Kaoko Veld, marble at Karibib, diamonds 

 in the Namib, and that skins, also horns, oxen, feathers, guano 

 are exported; or that there are so many kms. of telegraph wire, 

 etc. Such things can be found in the encyclopedia. Game 

 includes elephant, giraffe, and beasts of prey. The names Inyati- 

 berg, Otjosonyati and the like, show that wild oxen once roamed. 

 The land produces mealies, potatoes, figs, dates, wine, tobacco, 

 and tree-wool: it should be worth caring for, notwithstanding 

 its sandy wastes ; indeed, it is in the sand that the diamonds are 

 found. 



Von Trotha's policy will be lamented for a very long time 

 to come. The country is very short of labour, and the Herero, 

 for example, are breeding very slowly, it is said through dis- 

 couragement at their treatment. There is talk of the Bushmen 

 being used, ^ they were beginning to be by the Germans, who, 

 according to the Gorges report (which has taught mo much), 

 alienated them in the North by their treatment of their very 

 prized womenfolk. 



A word in conclusion of the more English coloured folk, 

 who are apt to be omitted in a survey like the present, but 

 whose families often have the most interesting history. One, 

 long settled in the country, I found, which appealed to me ethno- 



