DAMARAS, OVAMPO, AND NAM AQUAS 141 



I soon saw some of the horrors of savagedom. 



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My dogs found a wretched native whose muscles 

 along the back of his neck had been severed to the 

 bone, but whose throat was uninjured. He had 

 crawled under thorn-bushes to die, whence we ex- 

 tricated him. His head rolled horribly, but he could 

 speak a little. I did what I could in the way of 

 splints and bandages, but he soon died. Then, while 

 staying with a most gentlemanly chief, Kahichene, who 

 was himself killed soon afterwards, and his followers 

 dispersed, two of my fore-oxen were stolen. They 

 are by far the most important animals in a team. 

 The chief sent trackers after them. They and the 

 thief were brought back ; I begged for the man's life, 

 for ox- stealing is a capital offence. He was spared 

 while I was there, but clubbed, as I understood, after 

 I had left. But enough of these gruesome stories. 

 I had to hold a little court of justice on most days, 

 usually followed by corporal punishment, deftly ad- 

 ministered. At a signal from me the culprit's legs 

 were seized from behind, he was thrown face forward 

 on the ground and held, while Hans applied the 

 awarded number of whip strokes. This rough-and- 

 ready justice became popular. Women, as usual, 

 were the most common causes of quarrel. 



The Damaras were for the most part thieving 

 and murderous, dirty, and of a low type ; but their 

 chiefs were more or less highly bred. These people 

 seldom die natural deaths ; many are killed when 

 fighting, many are murdered, and sick persons are 

 as a rule smothered by their relatives. It was 

 fortunate for me that there was at that time no 

 paramount chief in Damara land, unless it were a man 



