186 DRESSED AND TANNED LEATHER. [chap. vi. 



enough to do it. It is true that Damaras do some- 

 times put things on the back of an old worn-out ox 

 that has not energy enough to kick them off ; but they 

 could never pack, as we did, 150 pounds' weight on 

 young oxen that had to be driven through thick cover, 

 and amused themselves with trying to rub their pack 

 off against every trunk or bough of a tree that they 

 could get at. 



We never had a sufficiency of leather to make reims 

 of; in fact, we always wanted leather, and I would 

 gladly at any time have exchanged a live ox for a 

 dressed skin. It takes at least two days to dress an 

 ox-hide, and two days' provision is nearly one ox. If 

 game was slaughtered, the Damaras eat so much that 

 they could not work at dressing the hide, which is a 

 most laborious job to undertake, and must be entered 

 upon willingly, or the hide is spoilt. When a hide is 

 dressed, in order to cut it into reims, the projecting 

 edges are first trimmed off, and then with a knife the 

 remaining part is cut spirally round and round the 

 whole way from the circumference to the centre. The 

 reim or band for packing purposes ought to be about 

 an inch thick, and of very regular breadth throughout. 

 A reim, or any other piece of ox-hide that is dressed, 

 is more limp than if it had been tanned; but it feels 

 greasy, and is a nasty thing to handle. Tanned 

 leather is abused by Hottentots and Dutchmen, but 

 I conceive that is simply because it is an innovation 

 upon their ideas. If I travelled again, I should invest 

 largely in it, and only use dressed leather when I had 

 nothing better. Wet ruins the latter, for it makes it 



