292 CATCH SOME CULPRITS. [chap. x. 



them in retaliation for the robbery. We had now 

 some long and severe running ; with horses we could 

 have done what we liked, but on foot the naked 

 Damaras were more than a match for us. However, 

 we took two men captive, whose looks almost warranted 

 their being hung without any other proofs of their 

 guilt, and we tied them together and drove them home 

 with several women, whom we kept in different detach- 

 ments. It was a long time before we were aU 

 collected together, as the men were dispersed over 

 the country, and we had no water till ten o'clock, nor 

 did we arrive at the encampment with our prisoners 

 till midday. 



After an hour's rest we tried the men, examining 

 them separately. Amiral's shrewdness astonished me 

 beyond measure. He was quite in liis element, and 

 wormed out the whole story with the greatest dexterity, 

 and the judicial scene was closed with a business-like 

 application of a new rhinoceros-hide whip. 



I had gained quite an insight into Hottentot 

 onslaught by these few hours' experience, and could 

 perfectly understand how engrossing must be the 

 excitement which they jdeld to savage minds. Com- 

 pared with these, shooting lions and rhinoceroses must 

 be poor sport to them. The last brrQgs simply into 

 play the faculties of a sportsman, and is an occupation 

 dangerous enough to be disagreeable, but negroes are 

 the woodcocks of Africa, the beau ideal of the game 

 tribe, and they are pursued not with that personal 

 indifference every one must feel towards quadrupeds, 

 but with revenge, hatred, and cupidity. The Hottentot 



