3H 
TRAVELS IN 
CHAP. V. 
Sketches made on a 'Journey into the Country of the Namaaqms, 
The breaking up of the south-east monsoon, which generally 
happens towards the end of April or the beginning of May,, 
is a season of the year that,, of all others, is worst calculated' 
for undertaking a journey through the sandy deserts of 
Southern Africa. Should the change of the monsoon not have 
taken place when the traveller sets out, the long drought 
which always precedes it will have parched up and destroyed 
vegetation to such a degree, that his cattle would be in dan- 
ger of perishing from scarcity of food, and still more so from 
want of water : and, should the contrary be the case, he is- 
equally unfortunate, as not only for some time he will find no 
pasturage, but must also have to contend with all the incon- 
veniences of stormy weather, and perhaps be retarded for 
weeks together by the swelHng of the rivers. 
Weighty as these objections appeared to be, it was thought 
expedient to commence a journey to the northern parts of the 
colony, along the western coast, at the very moment when 
the breaking up of the summer monsoon was expected. It 
was the tenth of April when I set forward from Cape Town, 
with a covered waggon, and twelve stout oxen, in good con- 
dition, a single horse, a slave, a waggoner, and leader, who 
