66 JONKER'S ATTACK. [chap. in. 



had always behaved in a veiry friendly way to the 

 missionaries; but this was the first time that either 

 he, or any of the influential Damaras, had encamped 

 within easy reach of a mission station. Kahikene 

 showed no distrust, but lived in the friendliest 

 relations with Mr, and Mrs. Kolbe ; and they had 

 sincerely hoped by his means to get a firmer footing 

 than they then had in Damara-land. Just at this time, 

 one night a troop of mounted Hottentots galloped up 

 to the place, firing at and murdering aU they could 

 catch. Kahikene narrowly escaped; the Hottentots 

 scoured the country in every direction, and a most 

 fearful night was passed. In the early morning, Jonker 

 came reeling drunk to the mission-house, ordered the 

 door to be unbarred, and behaved in the coolest way, — 

 demanded some breakfast, and so forth; and then 

 departed with liis men, and the oxen, and what else 

 they had robbed. It is very difficult to find out how 

 many people are killed or wounded in occasions hke 

 these, as hyenas soon devour the dead bodies, and 

 those who sur\T.ve scatter in all directions ; so that 

 no clue remains towards the numbers missing. I 

 saw two poor women, one with both legs cut off at her 

 ankle joints, and the other with one. They had 

 crawled the whole way on that eventful night from 

 Schmelen's Hope to Barmen, some twenty miles. The 

 Hottentots had cut them off after their usual habit, in 

 order to slip off the sohd iron anklets that they wear. 

 These wretched creatures showed me how they had 

 stopped the blood, by poking the wounded stumps 

 into the sand. A European would certainly have 



I 



