248 MESSENGERS GO TO THE CAPE. [chap. ix. 



drive them for sale down to the colony, by which 

 means I should recover some part of their value. 



Then in order to occupy the fifteen weeks that I had 

 to spare, I intended to make a quick journey to the 

 eastward, both for the pui-pose of seeing something of 

 the Hottentots, and also to find out whether, as I had 

 at fiii'st been assured was the case, the Karrikarri 

 Desert was interposed as an impracticable barrier 

 between the sea-coast countries and Lake 'Ngami. 



I divided my party into two : one waggon went down 

 with Hans to the bay, to bring back all the articles of 

 exchange that I had left there ; and the other waggon, 

 together with all my ride-oxen, went with me by 

 Jonker's village on my road to the east. 



To make matters more secure, I dispatched messen- 

 gers to the Orange River, in obtaining whom Swartboy 

 very kindly assisted me ; and among vaj letters, I 

 wrote one to the agent of the missionaries in Cape 

 Town, offering to bear a certain pai't of the expense of 

 the vessel, on condition that it was dispatched not 

 earlier than the 1st of December, or later than the last 

 of January. We then busied ourselves for a week in 

 packing, and in repairs, and in enjoying Mr. Hahn's 

 kind hospitality. 



Mr. Hahn had made an excursion to Omarm-u 

 during my absence, in company with Katjimalia's sons. 

 It is a spring, situated in the neighboui'hood of 

 extensive pastm'age, a very important place to the 

 Damaras, and about four and a half days' travel 

 from Barmen, being a little way beyond Erongo, 

 — the Ghou Damup mountain that I have akeady 



