CHAP. III.] ENGAGE HANS. 61 



these very Hottentots for protection from Damara 

 insult. The Damaras that I saw were paupers who 

 had no cows — people who chiefly lived, not on milk, 

 but on roots like pig-nuts, and who collected round a 

 white man with a vague hope of protection from him 

 against their countrymen. 



I determined to start immediately for Barmen, the 

 head seat of intelligence as regards Damara and 

 Hottentot movements, and called upon Hans, the next 

 morning, to get, not horsed, but " oxed," for the 

 journey. I found Mm in the neatest of encampments, 

 with an old sail stretched in a sailor-Hke way to keep 

 the sim off, and in an enclosm-e of thick reeds, that 

 were cut and hedged all round. The floor was covered 

 with sheep-skin mats : shooting things, knick-knacks, 

 and wooden vessels were hung on the forked branches 

 of the sticks, that propped up the whole. A veiy 

 inteUigent EngHsh lad was acting as his " help." 

 Natives squatted round at a respectful distance, and 

 Hans sat on an ottoman, looking like a Mogul. I had 

 some conversation with him, and saw at once that he 

 was not only willing to accompany me, but that also 

 he was the very man I wanted. I had heard but one 

 opinion of his efficiency and honesty from the 

 Europeans that I had seen, which satisfied me on 

 those points, and the style of the man was exactly 

 what I desired, for he was quiet, sedate, but vigorous 

 and powerfully framed, showing in all his remarks the 

 shrewdest common sense, and evidently, from the order 

 around him, an excellent disciphnarian. We very 

 soon came to terms, which were, that he should go 



