CHAP. IV.] THENCE TO SCHMELEN'S BAY. Ill 



There was a growing fear among my own men ; and 

 Jonker's previous personal threats to me, such as they 

 were, were corroborated. I therefore determined to 

 make some sort of demonstration which would bring 

 liim into better order : and in doing this I was con- 

 firmed by a rather humble request which I had 

 received from him when I was at Barmen, that I 

 would visit him at his place, from which I gathered, 

 either that he intended to j)lay some tricks upon me 

 there, or else that he felt he had gone too far, and was 

 penitent. In either case my presence would bring 

 matters to a crisis, and get rid of that uncertainty and 

 delay which would breed discouragement among my 

 men, and be fatal to my scheme of travel. I wished 

 to force some open admission from the man that his 

 late conduct towards the missionaries and the Damaras 

 had been infamous, and to do it in such a way that 

 the Damaras should hear about it, and understand that 

 I was in no mood either to abet or to obey the 

 Hottentots. 



Barmen was a bad place for me to encamp at, as 

 gi'ass was extremely scarce ; so I moved on to Schme- 

 len's Hope, which was the Ultima Thule of discovery 

 in Damara-land ; there a strong ox-kraal was made, 

 and the deserted and haK pulled-down house put in 

 order ; and leaving Andersson in charge, I took Hans, 

 John Morta, and one of tlie waggon-men, who spoke 

 very good Dutch, and started for Jonker. I previously 

 gave it out among the Damaras that I was gone to 

 make peace between the Hottentots and them. I 

 packed up my red hunting-coat, jack-boots, and cords, 



