A TOSS DEPART FROM BARMEN TORRENTS. 271 



ed not my presence, and kept his own course, the result was 

 that he caught me with his horns near the ribs, and pitched 

 me bodily over his back ! With the exception of being a 

 good deal shaken, however, I singularly enough escaped un- 

 hurt. But one of our native servants was less fortunate ; for 

 on trying, like myself, to stay the ox in his headlong career, 

 the poor fellow was thrown to the ground by the exasperated 

 brute, who actually knelt on his body, and in all probability 

 would have killed him had not the rest of the people come 

 to his assistance. This accident taught us to be more care- 

 ful in our future proceedings with an over-driven ox. 



On leaving Barmen, we were obliged to make a consider- 

 able detour in order to avoid the "- Great" Swakop, which 

 continued to send down immense torrents of discolored wa- 

 ter. In crossing one of its branches, known as the " Little" 

 Swakop, our cattle were more, than once swept away by the 

 violence of the current, and our wagon had a very narrow 

 escape from being capsized. When half way across the 

 stream it stuck fast, and for upward of four hours all our ef- 

 forts to extricate it proved ineffectual. During the whole of 

 this time we were immersed up to our necks in water, which 

 hourly increased. What with the velocity of the current, the 

 depth of the river, and the looseness of the soil beneath, we 

 were unable to obtain a firm footing, and men, oxen, and 

 dogs were frequently jumbled together in the most aAvkward 

 confusion. After almost superhuman exertions, having pre- 

 viously been obliged to remove all the heavy things from the 

 vehicle, we succeeded in reaching the shore in safety. Here 

 again, to our dismay, we found our path barred by immense 

 blocks of stone and the roughness of the ground in general 

 alono; the bank. We had no alternative but to retrace our 

 steps and recross the river at a more convenient point, which 

 we successfully accomplished on the following morning, when 

 the water had somewhat subsided. 



Hence we traveled about northeast, alternately in the bed 



