216 THE NAMAQUA-HOTTENTOTS. 



After their conquest of the country, the Damaras con- 

 tinued to extend themselves, without much opposition, to the 

 east nearly as far as Lake Ngami, and to about the twenty- 

 fourth degree of latitude on the south. At both these points, 

 however, they were checked in their onward career. At 

 first they were attacked by the Matjo'nas, with whom, from 

 time to time, they had several desperate conflicts ; and though 

 they appear to have fought well, they were ultimately obliged 

 to retreat with considerable loss. But it was from the Na- 

 maqua-Hottentots that thay were destined to experience the 

 greatest reverse, by whom, as will by-and-by be shown, they 

 were finally destroyed or broken up. 



About the period of the conquest alluded to a small tribe 

 of Namaqua-Hottentots had pitched their tents on the banks 

 of the Orange River, under the rule of Jonker Afrikaner,* 

 who was then a chief of only secondary importance ; yet, as 

 his people were possessed of horses and fire-arms, he soon 

 became formidable to his enemies. The territory lying be- 

 tween him and the Damaras was occupied by various tribes 

 of Namaquas, who, on finding themselves hard pressed by the 

 Damaras sent to Jonker to demand his assistance. This he 

 granted ; and, like another Ceesar, " came, saw, and con- 

 quered." Indeed, that day sealed the fate of Damara-land. 

 The Namaquas, at first the oppressed, became in their turn 



* His father, Christian Afrikaner, once lived within the present 

 boundary of the Cape Colony ; but his brother having killed a Dutch 

 farmer, from whom the tribe is said to have suffered much wrong, he 

 and his kindred were obliged to fly the country. He then settled on 

 the banks of the Garib or Orange River, where he soon became famous 

 for his daring and ferocious exploits against his neighbors. In this 

 state of things he was found by the Rev. Mr. Moffat, well known for 

 his missionary labors in Southern Africa, who, after having experi- 

 enced much opposition, finally succeeded in converting him to Chris- 

 tianity. At his death the present Jonker Afrikaner, though an elder 

 brother was still living, assumed the chieftainship, which occasioned a 

 division in the tribe, and was, moreover, the original cause of their 

 migration northward. 



