CHAP. IV.] EIDE ON TO REHOBOTH. 117 



wliicli he tried to reach the Ovampo, but was unable to 

 proceed further than Omanbonde, on account of the 

 exhausted state of his oxen. He and his men had 

 brought back all kinds of wonderful and impossible 

 reports about the lake Omanbonde ; but the information 

 which he gave me himself was, so far as it went, 

 perfectly accurate. He spoke much of the native 

 Bushmen that he found there, and who went freely 

 among the Ovampo. This surprised me much, as I 

 had no idea that the Hottentot race existed so far to 

 the north. Jonker was perfectly familiar by report 

 with the river that formed the further boundary of the 

 Ovampo. 



A very intelligent Englishman, a blacksmith, who 

 lived at Rehoboth, was returning there at the time I 

 proposed starting from Jonker' s, and I travelled in his 

 waggon. A great part of the distance, we went through 

 broad plains, bordered by high and distant hills, and 

 full of grass, but hardly any water. The last stage, 

 from water to water, was eleven hours' travel, with a 

 little pool from a previous storm in ' the middle ; but 

 this failed on our return. Rehoboth is situated on a 

 bare white limestone rock, with a hot sj)ring of mineral 

 water gushing out — a situation anything but pleasant ; 

 yet the village is very orderly and neat. 



I heard the full i^articulars of a late judgment and 

 punishment by Umap, an independent chief of a very 

 small tribe, though he had, at least, an equal claim 

 with Cornelius to the chiefdom of the red people. 

 Umap's son became Ul, and wasted away; the guUt 

 was fastened on some neighbouring Bushmen, who 



