156 LEARN A LITTLE AND TRAVEL OK [chap. v. 



Walfisch Bay people. The man we caught was tall, 

 certainly above six feet. One sees now and then very 

 tall, bony men among the Hottentots ; though, as a 

 race, they are diminutive. He had his wallet full of 

 yoimg bu'ds, just taken out of the nest, linnets and 

 such-like, to eat. He gave us much better information 

 than the Damaras. Phlebus said that the man talked 

 backwards and forwards, and that he could hardly 

 make out what he said. Anyhow, when he did, the 

 answers were very du-ect. The Bushman name for 

 Omanbonde is Sareesab : as to its size, I heard exactly 

 the same variety of accounts that I did among the 

 Damaras. The man said that the water of it was as 

 broad as the heavens ; the woman, that it was 

 perfectly dry ; but both agreed that there were hippo- 

 potami in it. There could be no doubt about the 

 animal meant ; they used the ordinary Hotteiatot word 

 for them, and mimicked their actions so completely, 

 that it was evident they had seen them ; and where 

 hippopotami are there water must be. They gave us a 

 very true account of its distance, calling it four long 

 days for a man on foot. 



Phlebus and Hans shot a brace of gemsboks. The 

 water we slept by lay among reeds, and seemed to be 

 the head of an ill-defined water-course, down which 

 we went. 



March Slst. — We picked up the gemsboks by the 

 way, and passed a large and deej) vley, in which there 

 were some red and white geese. There are geese and 

 ducks on every large pool of rain-water. They must 

 be taking advantage of the rainy season, and travelling 



