Nature and Art, December 1, 18G6. 
THE GREAT TREE-ALOE OF DAMARA LAND. 
201 
half an inch in thickness and five or six feet in 
height ; while in the dry sandy bed of the little 
Tineas, the native ebony trees, with their fresh 
green drooping foliage, looked like weeping willows 
in miniature. At the Tineas outspan was a little 
pool, near which stood a mass of white rock, con- 
nected with the low rugged cliffs by a rough wall, 
serving as a “ scherm,” or shelter for the night 
hunters. The spoor of a lioness and two cubs 
had been seen ; but only a couple of ducks had been 
shot. I waited till long after dark, and was making 
up my mind to pass the night there, when I heard 
the echoing “klap” of the long waggon-whip, and 
after a smart walk overtook Onesimus, who had 
already passed the river ; and consequently I had to 
return half a dozen miles next morning for some 
valuables deposited in a hollow of the rocks. The 
few spring-boks we saw were difficult of approach, 
and the Damara who followed me, was not a little 
astonished when he saw the bullet from my Wilson’s 
breech-loader strike up the red dust close by an 
ostrich at a range of more than 1,100 yards. 
With the ready hospitality characteristic of a 
thinly-peopled country, Smutz, who heard that I 
was a-foot, rode back leading a horse for me. The 
surface of the plain seemed limestone, and in a 
hollow of it we saw about six inches of the folds 
of a serpent fully as thick as my wrist. Any 
attempt to take him alive would have been im- 
prudent in the extreme, and had the rock been 
granite, it would have been hardly less so to have 
risked the rebound of the bullet; but, as it was, I 
fired into the orifice, in hope of destroying, even if 
I could not capture, the venomous reptile. We 
rode S.E. and E. toward Onanies, and outspanned 
near a couple of large granite hills, destitute of 
vegetation, smooth, bare, round, and solid enough 
for the construction of rock-temples of any magni- 
tude, had there been natives with surplus energy 
for so vast a misapplication of labour. At night, 
I believe a little farce was got up for the benefit of 
a couple of tradesmen going up from Cape Town ; 
one of the Damaras personating a lion leaping and 
roaring in the bushes, and the rest of the party 
firing as wide of him as possible. 
The country continued to improve. Park-like 
glades and clumps of mimosas were seen upon the 
plain ; and, as we passed under the steep cliffs of 
the Witte-water range, the “Kameel doom” ( Acacia 
ejiraffee) became a feature in the landscape, while 
throughout the valley and over the mountain-sides 
were scattered aloes of many varieties ; some of 
them (like those of the Cape Colony), spicata , per- 
foliata, ferox, and others from which the medicinal 
gum is extracted, were reared on stems six or eight 
feet high, draped roughly with the withered foliage 
of former years, with star-like crowns of fresh green 
leaves, and gorgeous spikes of crimson, scarlet, or 
orange flowers. Others, more lowly but as beautiful, 
nestled on the ground, and carried their pendent 
clusters of red or yellow blossoms on many branch- 
ing stems. In a crevice of the rocks, the water 
filtered into a small deep pool, out of which men 
baled it to supply the cattle, and captured the small 
tortoises left uncovered as they emptied it. Here, 
for the first time, I saw the peculiarly elongated, 
and unmistakeable foot-print of the giraffe ; a fine 
male of which was subsequently shot by Mr. Wilson, 
who, at no small cost and labour, preserved the 
skin, and forwarded it to the museum in Cape 
Town. Naturally enough, the hunters — averse to 
the pronunciation of long . names— utterly ignore 
that of camelopard ; but, instead of using the con- 
venient and appropriate one of giraffe, follow the 
example of the Dutch, and speak of having seen 
or shot so many “ camels.” In like manner, the 
fishermen on the coast will unintentionally mislead 
a stranger, by telling him they have caught an 
alligator, when they mean an alligator-shark. 
We halted at the house of Mr. Jones, at 
Omquaronto, or Kurikop, which last Onesimus 
translated “ Jager’s,” or “ Hunter’s place.” It was 
jfieasantly situated on the bank of the Swakop, the 
broad, flat sandy bed of which winds between low 
banks fringed with willow-like trees, while, between 
it and the cliffs on either side, are groves of kameel 
doom, ana-trees, and mimosas. Small patches of 
corn or garden land were cleared in the very bed 
of the river, in trust that the subterranean moisture 
would forward the crop so far, that it might be 
reaped before the periodic flood should sweep it off. 
Extensive cattle kraals, some enclosed by the usual 
fence of thorn trees cut and heaped around them, 
and others by substantial palisades, were near the 
house, and nothing but visible water seemed wanting 
to make it a perfect little paradise. Still, though 
the sandy river-bed was not damp even to the feet, 
there were few places where, by digging, or by 
merely scratching with the fingers, the precious 
fluid, so effectually screened from evaporation and 
pollution, might not readily be obtained. 
And here I witnessed a little bit of rough-and- 
ready justice, which goes to show that, whatever 
may be the faults of our countrymen or their 
colonial descendants, a spirit of fair play will 
generally actuate the majority. A quarrel had 
occurred during the night, and a young Englishman 
in the heat of passion had inflicted a rather severe 
scalp-wound upon a Hottentot or half caste. A 
council was called : he expressed his regret for the 
injury, but pleaded provocation and a quick temper, 
excited, moreover, by an unwonted libation ; and 
finally consented to pay eight pounds sterling, as 
compensation for damage, which I verily believe 
hardly disabled the complainant for a day. 
At Otjimbengue, formerly a station of the copper- 
mining company, and now the head-quarters of the 
Rhenish mission, I found Mr. C. J. Andersson, 
whose property it then was, preparing for an over- 
land journey with cattle for the Cape market, and 
was hospitably received by Mr. Henry Hutchinson, 
who walked out with me to the nearest hills. These 
were mostly of disintegrated granite, the large 
fissures in which were sometimes filled with light 
pink quartz, from six to ten inches thick, smooth, 
straight, and perpendicular as a well-built wall ; 
while on others seemed to be an incrustation of 
limestone, sharp and unpleasant to the feet as well 
