70 HANS ENGAGED AS HEAD MAN. 



that, for the future, it would be better not to molest Hans, 

 for if they did they would only fare worse. This advice 

 was felt to be a prudent caution, and from that day forward 

 they ceased to worry the Dane. 



Hans was an excellent and indefatigable sportsman, and 

 so successful that, though the country, on his first arrival, lit- 

 erally teemed with rhinoceroses, lions, giraffes, zebras, gnoos, 

 gemsboks, &c., he had all but exterminated them. 



To give the reader some idea of the abundance of game 

 and wild beasts then existing in this part of Africa, I may 

 mention than Hans once shot, with his own hand, no less 

 than nine rhinoceroses in the course of a single day.^ 



Hans ate very little animal food, but, whenever he could 

 afford it, he drank an amazing quantity of tea and coffee. 

 His chief nourishment, however, was thick sour milk, which 

 he swallowed in gallons. It is wonderful how people thrive 

 on this diet, which is the main sustenance of the Damaras, 

 who, as has been already said, are remarkably fine-looking 

 men. 



Hans, on the proposal being made to him by Mr. Galton, 

 agreed to accompany us in the capacity of head man, and 

 we were truly fortunate to secure so able and practiced a 

 hand. Indeed, from after-experience, it is very doubtful 

 whether we should have been able to get on without him. 

 We had, moreover, found that it would be next to impossi- 

 ble to obtain from the natives, by barter, any considerable 

 number of cattle ; and, even had we succeeded, they would 

 have been so wild and unmanageable that we could not have 

 made use of them for months. Now, as Hans had a small 

 drove of his own, several of which were already broken-in, 

 and the rest more or less tractable, and was mlling to part 

 with them at a moderate price, Mr. Galton secured the whole 



* His hunting dress on these occasions consisted simply of a thick, 

 coarse blue shirt or blouse, secui'ed by a belt round his waist, contain- 

 ing his balls, caps, wadding, &c. 



