108 MR. HAHN. 



straws. Every vestige of many gardens was swept away ; 

 and some of the native huts, which had been imprudently 

 erected too close to the river, shared a similar fate. Indeed, 

 it must have been a miniature deluge. 



Wonderful, however, as is the sudden creation of these 

 floods, the very short time they require to disappear is no less 

 striking. An hour's sunshine is sometimes sufficient to trans- 

 form flooded fields into a smiling landscape. 



These commotions of the elements are of frequent occur- 

 rence in the tropics during the rainy season. Soon after Mr. 

 Galton's arrival at Barmen there was a very heavy thunder- 

 storm. One evening, as he and Mr. Hahn were conversing, 

 they saw a Damara struck dead by lightning within a hund- 

 red yards of where they stood. 



Water was abundant at Barmen, and very good. Mr. 

 Hahn had dug a large well in his own garden, which was of 

 very great convenience and comfort, as the water thus ob- 

 tnined was always clean and wholesome. Within a couple 

 of hundred paces of the dwelling-house there were, moreover, 

 -two copious fountains. One of these was a warm spring, 

 the temperature being 157 degrees of Fahrenheit. By means 

 of small channels, this spring was made to irrigate a consid- 

 erable portion of garden land, and was also of great use in 

 seasoning timber. To the laundress, besides, it was invalu- 

 able. During our stay at Barmen we indulged freely in the 

 unusual and uncommon luxury of a bath, but it proved 

 somewhat relaxing. 



Mr. Hahn was a Russian by birth, but had, for a number 

 of years, devoted himself to the service of the German Rhen- 

 ish Missionary Society, and was now using his best endeav- 

 ors to convert the natives of this benighted land. At first 

 he had settled among a tribe of Namaquas, under the pow- 

 erful robber -chief Jonker Afrikaner, of whom presently. 

 Finding, however, that these people infinitely preferred to 

 cut the throats of their fellow-creatures than to listen to his 



