218 THE GREAT RIVER. [chap. vii. 



who went there never crossed it, but that his people 

 went to them and were ferried across by tlie 

 Ovapangari. I had become quite familiar with this 

 river by hearsay, as nearly every Ovampo had been 

 there, and many Damaras also. There were some 

 runaway slaves from Benguela who knew all the 

 places marked in the usual maps, as Caconda, Bilie, 

 Quinbumba, and so forth, and sjjoke of the houses of 

 many stories with great wonder. The river runs from 

 east to west, and with a very rapid current, so much 

 so that boats never went up it, but only ferried from 

 side to side ; the breadth of the river was so great, 

 that though a man's shouting could be heard jjerfectly 

 across it, yet his words could not. They said it was 

 very deep, and full of alligators. It ran down to near 

 the sea, and there it ended in a large pool, percolating, 

 of course, like very many other large African rivers, 

 through the sands. In this pool were great numbers 

 of hippopotami, and the sand between it and the sea 

 was so soft and treacherous that people could not 

 walk over it. The names of the people who lived 

 along it I have put down on the map at the places they 

 were described to inhabit. The Damaras call them 

 all " Ovampo." The traders who go down to this 

 river to barter have occasionally horses (their spoor, 

 neigh, and gallop, all being mimicked to me). They 

 bring brandy, beads, and assegais, to exchange for 

 ivory and cattle. These traders must be very nearly 

 black, because not only the colour of our skin but the 

 straightness of our hair was a constant marvel to the 

 Ovampo. They wondered if we were white all over. 



