INTERVIEW WITH JONKER HIS DEFENSE. 289 



tiie consequence was, that by the time I reached liehoboth, 

 what with the heat of the sun and the jolting of the ox, my 

 limb was alarmingly inflamed. A week's rest, however, re- 

 stored me, in a degree, to health. 



On arriving near Eikhams, I observed almost eveiy hill 

 and dale covered with numerous herds of cattle, the spoils 

 of the last excursion. On my arrival, I requested an imme- 

 diate interview with the chief. In a day or two, accompa- 

 nied by twenty of his principal men, he made his appearance. 

 The meeting took place in the old church, where I had estab- 

 lished myself, which gave a certain solemnity to the occasion. 

 Eyebrecht and Onesimus acted as interpreters. 



Every one being duly seated and silence obtained, I thus 

 addressed the chieftain : 



"Captain Jonker! when I last saw you, I shook hands 

 with you : it grieves me that I can not do so to-day ; the 

 cause you must be aware of." I then proceeded boldly to 

 accuse him of his late depredations in Damara-land, to which 

 both he and the rest of the audience listened in the most 

 profound silence. 



Having finished my harangue, the cunning chief requested 

 to be allowed to speak a few words in his defense, which, of 

 course, was granted. He then entered into a very long and 

 cleverly concocted story of the great losses he had sustained 

 at the hands of the Damaras, and that what he had now done 

 was solely in self-defense, or as indemnification for robberies 

 committed on himself. Whatever truth there might have 

 been in his assertion as to preceding outrages, his story on 

 the present occasion was one chain of falsehood, and this I 

 clearly proved to him. At last, finding no further excuse, 

 and perceiving that I knew all about his proceedings, he con- 

 fessed that, in passing through the country, his men had cer- 

 tainly "taken a few head of cattle, but," added he, "we left 

 plenty after us." The manner in which he thus attempted 

 to get out of the scrape was so ridiculous that I could not 



N 



