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APPENDIX.

213

seasons for crossing the desert. Lord Mayo had mentioned how the great fall of rain immediately changed the whole face of the country, and enabled the Trek Boers to move with their large herds of cattle and their waggons over a country which, for nine months in the year, was utterly impassable. In this way about three hundred successfully reached the neighbourhood of Lake 'Ngami, but many more perished by the way. In some cases almost entire families were lost, but at last about seven hundred, including the three hundred who had first crossed, reached the western borders of the desert, and turned towards Damaraland, and followed nearly the same track as Mr. Galton did about thirty years before. Finding that they were then in the neighbourhood of other Europeans who had come from Walfisch Bay, they moved northward, and about three or four years ago first crossed the Cunenf river. There was some little difficulty at first in arranging matters with the Portuguese Government, but everybody must rejoice to hear that after all these wanderings they had firmly settled down in Portuguese territory. As a people occupying the country, and not as single travellers, they had travelled a distance of between 3,000 and 4,000 miles within the recollection of many now present at the meeting. Movements such as these must in time produce great results in Africa. It must be remembered that temperate Africa did not end at the Tropic, but extended along the highlands far towards Central Africa. It was no doubt the solitary traveller or hunter who first led these families to follow their fortunes northward into the wilderness. No better illustration of the results thus produced could be found than in the fortunes of Mr. Erickson. When he (Sir Bartle Frere) was at the Cape, he was assured, on the authority of Mr. Erickson's partner, that be who as a young man started as an assistant to Andersson the traveller, had at that time sixty waggons in the field, each waggon with not less than sixteen pairs of oxen, with one or two men of European blood as hunters, leading some ten or twelve native hunters, all engaged in collecting ivory and ostrich feathers, and other products of the wilderness, such as the skins of antelopes, which abounded there. He had good reason to believe that at that time the firm of Erickson bad a capital of not less than 6200,000 employed between the Orange river and the Cunene. Looking at these facts, there could be no doubt that there was a great future before the countries of South