CHAP. VII.] YEARLY TRAFFIC. 199 



Ovampo of 24; making about 170 souls in all; 20G 

 head of horned cattle were driven along, independently 

 of my own, and were the result of Ovampo barter ; and 

 of these three-fourths were cows or heifers. 



The 86 women went on various speculations, — some 

 to get work in Ovampo-land, some to try and get hus- 

 bands, others merely to sell their ostrich-shell corsets. 

 Chik thought the caravan a Httle above the average ; 

 therefore, as there are altogether four caravans, we may 

 consider 800 oxen as the annual export of Damara- 

 land to the north ; in exchange for which at least half 

 of the Damaras are kept supphed with weapons and 

 ornaments, the other half deriving theirs from the 

 Namaquas and the missionaries to the south. The 

 Damaras have no communication whatever with anj' 

 other country, a broad land dividing them from the 

 natives to the east, and the sandy tract bj^ the sea- 

 shore bounding them to the west. 



May 2ith. — Arrived at Otchikango, the baboon- 

 fountain, passing a very curious circular hole in the 

 middle of a chalky patch of ground ; it was exactty 

 like a bucket, ninety feet across, and thirty feet deep : 

 its name was Orujo : the sides were perpendicular, the 

 bottom flat ; and in the middle was a small well, down 

 to which a person could easily scramble. All the 

 ground about is limestone ; and wherever there is a 

 bare patch of it, numbers of circular holes, like minia- 

 ture Orujos, are to be seen: generally they are about 

 the size that would just admit a round lucifer-box ; 

 some a few sizes larger ; several about a foot across ; 

 and in these trees are often growing just as they would 



