102 CHASE ZEBRAS. [chap. iv. 



Erongo were here in huge smooth white masses — often 

 hundreds of feet without a fissure — the hill seemed 

 built by some Cyclopean architect. Immense round 

 boulders of the same stones were strewed here and 

 there at its base. Our Ghou Damup returned iu the 

 evening with a promise that guides should be sent us 

 early the next day. We put our articles of exchange 

 into small packs, as men had to carry them up the 

 steep mountain by the footroad. When cattle are 

 sent up, they are driven round to a different and more 

 distant entrance, which we did not care to visit. It is 

 just practicable for oxen and no more. 



We had a gTand chase after some zebras in the early 

 morn ; a large herd had ventured into the recess in 

 which we were encamped during the night, and as they 

 returned smelt our fire and headed back. We heard 

 them, and everybody ran to cut them off, some with 

 guns and some without ; the zebras made a round and 

 galloped through a narrow gorge within arm's length of 

 those who were there. We could not carry our sleeping 

 things up the mountain, as they were too heavy, but I 

 took a small plaid. I was very unweU, but tried to 

 battle off my fever. John St. Helena, Gabriel, and the 

 Damaras, were left to watch the cattle below — while 

 Hans and I and the Ghou Damup climbed for two 

 hours over smooth slabs, most of the time without 

 shoes for fear of slipping. The slabs over which the 

 only path lay were disjointed from the main rock, and 

 enormous fissures lay between them and it. When we 

 travelled along the side that sloped towards these 

 fissures it was to me very nervous work, for my feet 



