40
ARRIVE AT BARMEN. LCHAP.III.
exhausted at the very time that the sun is beginning to blaze most powerfully, the want of a restorative is more particularly felt. It is impossible in practice to ensure breakfast before you start; and constantly, when youu least expect it, a series of accidents occur that keep you mounted, and put it off till two or three o'clock in the afternoon; but coffee, so long as you have any, can always be made before starting.
We passed over very broken ground, and slept under some magnificent camelthorn trees : the meat we killed in the morning seemed a little tainted; so we cooked as much as we could in our iron pot, to prevent it from becoming worse, and gave all the rest to our two or three natives for a grand feast. The evening of the next day found us at Barmen, which, if I was to avoid the Hottentots, would probably be the starting-point of my exploring expedition. Mr. Hahn, a Russian by birth, and married to an English lady, and a Missionary of considerable influence, was the founder of this station.
Mr. Kolbe and his young wife, who had been attacked by the Hottentots at Schmelen's Hope, had cone here for refuge. They had lost nearly everything. It seems they had quite recently occupied the place, and that the poorer natives had settled in great numbers by them. Kahikene, one of the four or five principal chiefs in Damaraland, had also trecked there with many of his men and large herds of cattle. He had always behaved in a very friendly way to the Missionaries ; but this was the first time that either he, or any of the influential Damaras, had encamped within easy reach of a Mission station. Kahikene showed no distrust, but lived in the friendliest relations with Mr. and Mrs. Kolbe, and they had sincerely hoped by his means to get a firmer footing than they then had in Damaraland. Just at this time, one night a troop of mounted Hottentots galloped up to the place, firing at and murdering all they could catch. Kahikene narrowly escaped : the Hottentots scoured the country in every direction, and a most fearful night was passed. In the early morning, Jonker came reeling drunk to the Mission-house, ordered the door to be unbarred, and behaved in the coolest way,-demanded some breakfast, and so forth ; and then departed with his men, and the oxen, and what else they had robbed. It is very difficult to find out how many people are killed or wounded in occasions like these, as hyenas soon devour the dead bodies, and those who survive scatter in all directions, so that no clue remains towards the numbers illissing. 1 Saw two poor
