DEPART FROM ONDONGA ARRIVAL AT OKAMABUTI. 207 



that we ultimately succeeded in finding our way home. As 

 has been already said, there were no landmarks by which 

 we could steer. 



The nights had now become bitterly cold. In crossing the 

 Otjihako-tja-Muteya we were obliged to bivouac on this 

 bleak and exposed plain without a particle of fuel. What 

 with the piercing wind and low temperature, it was one of 

 the most trying nights I remember to have spent in Africa. 

 Indeed, I hardly ever felt the cold more during the most se- 

 vere Scandinavian winter. Even the cattle were so exceed- 

 ingly distressed that several of our best draft-oxen never 

 thoroughly recovered. Our poor Damaras suffered fearful- 

 ly ; and it was only by huddling themselves together at the 

 bottom of a dried-up well that they were enabled to keep the 

 least warmth in their bodies. Timbo, however, appeared to 

 be the greatest sufferer. One morning we were amazed at 

 finding his dark, shiny skin suddenly changed into a pale 

 ashy gray. 



Owing to the scarcity of water at this time of the year, 

 game was rare. Indeed, we only met with animals, such as 

 the giraffe, the koodoo, the gemsbok, the eland, &c., that ei- 

 ther wholly or in great part can do without water. 



On the 1st of July, after about a fortnight's steady travel, 

 we reached our encampment in safety. The two hundred 

 miles of country we had crossed presented, perhaps, as dreary 

 and uninteresting a prospect as can well be imagined. 



In our absence, Tjopopa, with his people, left Okamabuti, 

 and removed a few miles farther to the westward. Our men 

 followed his example. On approaching the camp, we espied 

 Hans perched in the top of a tree anxiously looking out for 

 our return. The whole party was almost wild with delight 

 at seeing us safe back, of which they began to despair. They 

 had passed a most dreary time. The natives, though friend- 

 ly, teased and annoyed them excessively with begging and 

 even pilfering, the chief, as not unfrequently happens, hav- 



