ORIGIN OF THE DAMARAS. 215 



testimony of many of the natives, I have had the satisfaction, 

 on comparing my notes with those of the missionaries, to 

 find them agree in the main ; and as it has been my fate to 

 witness the complete ruin and downfall of the Damaras — 

 who, probably, before another century has passed away will 

 be forgotten — I think that a connected and somewhat detail- 

 ed description of their history may not be unacceptable to 

 the general reader. 



That the Damaras have not resided for any length of time 

 in the country which they now occupy is quite certain, 

 though whence they came is doubtful. Some of these peo- 

 ple point to the north as their original home; others con- 

 jecture that they migrated from the northeast.* Be this as 

 it may, it would appear quite certain that about seventy years 

 ago not a Damara was to be found south of the Kaoko, but 

 that, at some time within this period, they invaded the coun- 

 try, then inhabited by Bushmen and Hill-Damaras, the last 

 being in all probability the aborigines. Not having a war- 

 like disposition, the Hill-Damaras were easily subdued, and 

 those who were not killed were made captives. The few 

 that escaped took refuge among the mountains, or other in- 

 hospitable and inaccessible regions, where they are still found 

 dragging on a most miserable and degraded existence. 



The Damaras were once, undoubtedly, a great nation ; 

 but, unlike others which gradually become powerful by the 

 union of a number of smaller tribes under the head of a sin- 

 gle chief or king, they have dwindled into an endless number 

 of petty tribes, ruled by as many chiefs. 



* In my journey to the Lake Ngami at an after period, I observed 

 whole forests of a species of tree called Omumborombonga, the sup- 

 posed progenitor of the Damaras, This fact, coupled with our knowl- 

 edge that all the tribes to the north are more or less conversant with 

 agriculture, of which the Damaras know nothing (having no word in 

 their language for cereal food), and that many of the nations to the 

 east are partly pastoral, woitld seem to indicate a northeast or east 

 direction as their original home. 



