CHAP. IX.] THE KAOKO. 249 



mentioned. Omaruru is a rendezvous for the caravans 

 that travel between the Damaras and the sea-srde 

 Ovampo ; and immediately north of it begins a broad 

 barren tract called the Kaoko, which those caravans 

 have to cross, and which, though now very thinly 

 inliabited, appears to have been the original home 

 of the Damara nation. 



I heard of the safety of three of my mules who had 

 travelled down to Scheppmansdorf and taken up their 

 quarters there; they grazed, strayed, and slept just 

 where they pleased, for the Hottentots could not 

 manage them. They were five in number when they 

 ran away from me at Schmelen's Hope, but two of 

 them must have been killed on the road by lions ; they 

 certainly did not die of starvation, for the other three 

 arrived at Scheppmansdorf very plump and in good 

 condition. 



I ought to mention that the horse distemper does 

 not appear to exist at Scheppmansdorf: five or six 

 horses have at different times been kept there, but 

 none have suffered from the disease. 



I had much satisfaction in comparing the results of 

 my inquiries with those of Mr. Hahn, with regard 

 to the earlier history of Damara land. It appears 

 undoubted that seventy years ago not a smgie Damara 

 existed in the parts where I had been traveUing, but 

 that they all lived in the Kaoko, while tribes of 

 Bushmen and Ghou Damui? possessed the entire 

 country between tilie Orange Paver and the Ovampo, 

 excepting only the Kaoko on the north-west, and the 

 central Karrikarri desert on the east. 



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