70 ESTABLISHMENT OF MISSIONS. [chap. m. 



neighbours, the Damaras, the pretext being constant 

 quarrels, the ill-treatment that their kindred the 

 Bushmen were receiving throughout the country, and 

 last, not least, the fine herds of oxen that only waited 

 to be plundered. Jonker accordingly trecked up, 

 helped the Hottentots, and then settled alongside of 

 them. His tribe now became larger and more efiicient ; 

 he bought guns and horses from the Cape ■svith the 

 oxen tliat he stole, and continued robbing the Damaras 

 on his own account. 



In consequence of a representation sent by Sir James 

 Alexander to two Missionary societies, stations were 

 formed at Jonker's head quarters; and, in 1840, he 

 had been so far influenced, that he agreed to leave the 

 Damaras at rest, and to take care that the other 

 Hottentots should do the same, for he had become by 

 far the most important chief among them all. The 

 way in which peace was made and kept for thi'ee years 

 was highly creditable to the missionaries concerned in 

 it ; a great deal of trade was carried on in Jonker's 

 werft. A blacksmith's shop was put up there, and iron 

 things, assegais, choppers for cutting wood, beads, and 

 so forth, were made in great quantities and sold for 

 cattle, which again were exchanged with traders from 

 the Cape for clothes, guns, and such like things. But 

 this did not long last ; the traders sold their goods on 

 credit ; Jonker and the others became deeply in debt, 

 and as the only way of paying it off involved themselves 

 once again in the endless Damara quarrels. It appeared 

 that one Damara chief and his tribe had been invited 

 to a feast, and when these were attacked, and nearly 



