DESTRUCTIVENESS OF THE TERMITES. 151 



The day after this little adventure we continued our jour- 

 ney, and in the afternoon found ourselves safe at the foot of 

 the southern extremity of Omuvereoom, and its sister hill, la 

 Kabaka, from which it is only separated by a narrow valley. 

 We " outspanned" at a small vley, where, for the first time, 

 I observed the willow-tree — an agreeable reminiscence of m} 

 native land. The water, however, was of the most abomin- 

 able quality, being apparently much frequented by wild ani- 

 mals, who had converted the pool into something like what 

 we see in a farm-yard. 



At this place we had a striking instance of the fearful rav- 

 ages which termites are capable of committing in an incred- 

 ibly short time. In the early part of the day after our ar- 

 rival, Mr. Galton and Hans started on foot, with the inten- 

 tion of ascending Omuvereoom. In consequence of a sudden 

 and distressing pain in my side, I was unable to accompany 

 them, and, in the hope of obtaining a little ease, made a sort 

 of extempore couch on the ground, covering it with a plaid. 

 On rising after a while, I discovered, to my dismay and as- 

 tonishment, that my bedding had been completely cut to 

 pieces by the destructive insects, and yet, when I first laid 

 down, not one was visible. 



Early the next morning we pushed on to a large vley, up- 

 ward of a mile in length, the finest sheet of standing water 

 we had yet seen in Damara-land. It was swarming with 

 geese and ducks. The vegetation had a very tropical ap- 

 pearance ; several — to us — new trees and plants, without 

 thorns, presented themselves, and we began to flatter our- 

 selves that we had at last passed the boundary-line of those 

 thorny woods which had so long and pertinaciously harass- 

 ed us. In this, however, we were disappointed. The very 

 next day we entered a region far worse than any we had yet 

 seen, which, indeed, bade fair to stop us altogether. Our poor 

 cattle were cruelly lacerated, and it was with the utmost 

 difficulty we succeeded in getting the wagons through. I 



