CHAP. IX.] SELL MY CART AND MULES. 255 



and traders, but the Oerlams, under Amiral, had 

 recently extended themselves about forty miles further 

 to the east, and on their late shooting excursions had 

 reached a point considerably more distant. I was 

 assured that the appearance of the land would be 

 found to alter considerably^ the thorns and rugged 

 hills of Damara-land giving place to broad plains, and 

 grass, and timber trees. Beyond was the desert 

 which had hitherto been considered quite impassable, 

 except for men on foot, after the rainy season, and 

 which therefore barred out the lands of the west coast 

 from those of Central Africa. 



It was principally with a view to try if this desert 

 were really impassable that I proposed now to travel, 

 and my object was to strike upon some road that led 

 from the colony up to Lake 'Ngami. The Lake itself 

 I was indifferent about reaching, for it is of no great 

 size, and might prove a very unhealthy jjlace for us, 

 who had been accustomed so long to the pure air 

 of a high plateau. It was two years since its discovery, 

 and there was every reason to suppose that it was 

 by this time perfectly well known. Lastly, I should 

 never get on amongst the blacks there without an 

 interpreter, being, as they are, deadly enemies to the 

 Damaras, from whose side I should have come. I 

 also looked forward with much pleasure to a little 

 sport, for game had been so scarce in Damara-land 

 that it made shooting a real toil. 



I sold my cart and harness which were lying at 

 Otjimbingue, and the three mules which were at 

 Scheppmansdorf, to Jonker ; he gave me twenty oxen 



