CHAP. VII.] DEIfSITY OF THE POPULATION. 209 



as if they did so they might cause all sorts of damage. 

 I felt ill at ease in Ovampo land, because I was no 

 longer my own master. Everybody was perfectly 

 civil, but I could not go as I liked, nor where I liked ; 

 in fact I felt as a savage would feel in England. My 

 red coat was the delight of all the little boys and giiis, 

 plump merry little things, who ran after me shouting and 

 singing as happy as could be. The Ovampo took much 

 interest in seeing the oxen packed and ridden ; they had 

 never seen them used in that way before, and carefully 

 examined the saddle-bags, and the way they were put on. 



To gain some idea of the amount of the Ovampo 

 population I counted the number of homesteads that I 

 passed, and found that I saw, on an average, thu-ty in 

 each hour's ride, about three miles. From the undu- 

 lating nature of the country, and from the number of 

 palms, I considered that I could only see a mile and a 

 half on either side of me, and therefore these thirty 

 farms would take up a sqiiare of three miles in the 

 side, or nine square miles ; that is, in round numbers, 

 three farms would occupy a square mile ; allowing from 

 thirty to forty souls in each farm, it gives a pojiula- 

 tion of a hundred persons to a square mile. There 

 is no town whatever in Ondonga, for the population 

 is entirely rural. 



Travelling on we passed a few Damaras who had 

 lately arrived from Omaruru to make amends to 

 Nangoro for some thefts which the natives on that 

 side of the country had been committing against the 

 Ovampo. A little fm^ther we met four Ovapangari who 

 had come south from the great river ; they were 



