CHAP, v.] ARE GUIDED ONWARDS. 159 



At about the point where we now were Omuvereoom 

 was identified with the plain. There were no thorns 

 at all about here, but the country was covered with 

 high green-leaved bushes ; the wood was very brittle, 

 so that the waggon crashed through trees whose stem 

 was as thick as a man's thigh, and we had not to use 

 the axes. Indeed, we have very seldom had occasion 

 to employ them, considering the country that we have 

 pushed through. The captain told us all sorts of tales 

 about the Ovampo and their king, Nangoro. He had 

 visited them two or three times. Nangoro, he said, 

 was the fattest man in the world, and larger than 

 either of my waggons. His size has made a gTeat 

 impression upon the sparely-built Damaras, for when- 

 ever I talk about him they allude to it. Every man I 

 have tallied to about the Ovampo speaks well of them. 

 April ith. — We stai-ted in company with our tall 

 guide, travelling three and a half hours — slept without 

 water. The next day we were to reach our goal. 

 Infinite were the conjectures on the size and appear- 

 ance of Omanbonde. We had looked over my mackin- 

 tosh boat to see that it was m good order, and agreed 

 to settle on its banks and have a fortnight or three 

 weeks pleasant shooting in return for all the trouble 

 and annoyance that we had undergone. We tried not 

 to expect very much of a lake for fear of disappointment, 

 but agreed that it could not be less than fifteen miles 

 by eight. Five hours' travelling over undulating ground 

 brought us on the brow of a hill, below wliich lay a 

 broad grassy river bed 500 yards across — this was the 

 Omoramba; up it was a projecting rock, and round that 



