CHAP. ii.j SCHEPPMANSDORF. 29 



and tie them ■nitli strips of bark ; lastly, they wattle 

 the sides and plaster them up. 



Scheppmansdorf is prettily situated on a kind of 

 island in the middle of the Kuisip River bed near a 

 clump of fine trees, somewhat resembhng elms. A.t 

 one side stands the Missionary's and Stewartson's 

 houses, in the middle is the white-washed chapel, and 

 round the other sides lie the huts twenty or thirty 

 in number. All around is sand ; to the south there 

 a perfect sea of sand-dunes from 100 to 150 feet high, 

 to ■ the north the Naauip plain. A small streamlet 

 rises from the ground, and runs through the place, 

 watering about three acres of garden and field, and 

 losing itself half a mUe off in a reedy pond full of 

 Avild fowl. 



The natives crowd the church and sing the hymns, 

 which, being about three quarters articu.late and one 

 quarter clicks, produce a very fmmy effect. The 

 Missionary is, to all intents and j)urposes. Lord para- 

 mount of the jplace, though he is modest, and refers 

 matters as much as possible to the captain of the tribe. 

 Savage countries are parcelled out by a tacit under- 

 standing between different Missionary Societies, priority 

 of occupation affording the ground of claim, it not being 

 customary for one sect to establish its stations in a land 

 where another sect is abeady settled. Mr. Bam and the 

 other gentlemen I was thro^vn amongst belonged to a 

 German Mission, and were all of them Germans or 

 Dutch. Further to the interior, and communicating 

 with the Cape, not by the sea, but overland, are some 

 English Wesleyan stations. Subsequently, I passed 



