CHAP. m.l ARRIVE AT BARMEN. 65 



enough ; but in tropical ones, when you begin work 

 in the fresh cool of the morning, and become hungry 

 and exhausted at the very time that the sun is 

 beginning to blaze most powerfully, the want of a 

 restorative is more particularly felt. It is impossible 

 in practice to ensure breakfast before you start ; and 

 constantly, when you least expect it, a series of 

 accidents occur that keep you mounted, and put it off 

 till two or three o'clock in the afternoon ; but coffee, 

 so long as you have any, can always be made before 

 starting. 



We passed over very broken ground, and slept under 

 some magnificent camelthorn trees : the meat we killed 

 in the morning seemed a little tainted ; so we cooked 

 as much as we could in our iron pot, to prevent it from 

 becoming worse, and gave all the rest to our two or 

 three natives for a grand feast. The evening of the 

 next day found us at Barmen, which, if I was to avoid 

 the Hottentots, would probably be the starting-point of 

 my exploring expedition. Mr. Hahn, a Russian by 

 birth, and married to an English lady, and a missionary 

 of considerable influence, was tlie founder of this 

 station. 



Mr. Kolbe and his young wife, who had been 

 attacked by the Hottentots at Schmelen's Hope, had 

 come here for refuge. They had lost nearly every- 

 thing. It seems they had quite recently occupied the 

 place, and that the poorer natives had settled in great 

 numbers by them. Kahikene, one of the four or five 

 principal chiefs in Damara-land, had also trecked there 

 with many of his men and large herds of cattle. He 



