NEW CONDITIONS 185 



Andries' feelings must have resembled those 

 of a seaman ordered to navigate his ship 

 through an uncharted archipelago. Owing to 

 our absolute lack of local knowledge we should 

 be constrained to do all our travelling by day, 

 and this meant severe suffering for the cattle. 

 In the old days of prospecting for copper ore, 

 all communication with the Richtersveld was 

 effected by a route along the actual sea-shore 

 from Port Nolloth to the Orange River's 

 mouth and thence inland along the river bank 

 to the sickle-bend. 



We started from Anenous very early in the 

 morning. On the previous day we had kept 

 the oxen without water, so that almost to the 

 moment of commencing the journey they might 

 be very thirsty, and accordingly drink their fill. 

 We at once plunged into the waste of sand; 

 this proved to be so heavy that we were unable 

 to travel at a higher rate than two miles an 

 hour. The country was quite different from 

 the Bushmanland plains; there was no " toa," 

 but succulent plants of great variety were 

 plentiful. One Mesembryanthemum had the 

 dimensions of a large cabbage. In spite of its 

 succulence the oxen would not eat of this vege- 

 tation. 



The climate, also, was different from that of 



