REMAINS OP DAMARA VILLAGES. 157 



At the foot of the mountain we discovered the remains of 

 a large Hill-Damara kraal. A considerable extent of land 

 had at one time been carefully cultivated, and a few young- 

 calabashes and pumpkins were still seen springing up from 

 the parent stock of the preceding season. The day after our 

 arrival one or two natives came to visit us, and no doubt, 

 also, for the purpose of ascertaining who and what we were. 

 We of course entertained them well, and at parting gave 

 them a few trifling presents, with a request that they would 

 soon return with the remainder of their tribe, in order that 

 we might buy from them some goats, which, from the sur- 

 rounding evidences, they must have possessed in great num- 

 bers. The fresh tracks of a few horned cattle were also to 

 be seen. However, our friends never came back, nor did we 

 encounter any more of the natives. 



While sauntering about the place we stumbled upon sev- 

 eral deserted Damara villages, and our native servants now 

 told us that, after the late attack on Schmelen's Hope by 

 Jonker, Kahichene and his tribe had fled with the remainder 

 of their cattle to this secluded spot ; and yet, a short time 

 previously, they had positively asserted that the country was 

 impassable for man and beast ! They, moreover, informed us 

 that several bloody fights, or rather massacres, had at that 

 time taken place between the contending parties ; and that 

 whenever a man, woman, or child was met, and the deed 

 could be perpetrated with impunity, they were cruelly mur- 

 dered. These sanguinary outrages were sometimes inflicted, 

 they said, by the Damaras, and at others by the Hill-Da- 

 maras. 



I climbed to the top of the Omuvereoom, whence I had a 

 very extensive view of the country to the eastward ; but, ex- 

 cepting a few periodical water-courses which originated in 

 the sides of the mountain, nothing but an immense unbroken 

 bush was to be seen. It was in vain that I strained my eyes 

 to catch a glimpse of Omanbonde, which we were told lay 



