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CHAPTER X

LANDS OF THE DAMARAS, OVAMPO, AND NAMAQUAS

Size of caravan-Horrors of savagedom-Ovambondt-To the Ovampo on ride-oxen-Back to Damara land-Journey in Namaqua land -Bushmen-Large game-Back to Walf sh Bay-Home-Medal of Royal Geographical Society, and election to Athenaeum Club under Rule II.

M y Y first objective was Ovambond6, a place which proved to be of exaggerated interest. It is marked B on the map. It was the only definite spot, generally known to the Damaras, that I could hear of in a northerly direction. Without some definite goal it would have been necessary to travel unguided through a country so choked with bushes bearing cruel thorns that we might have found ourselves in impassable blind issues time after time.

The plateau on which we were to travel was some 6ooo feet above the level of the sea, as calculated by the usual method from the temperature of boiling water. It had a crisp sandy surface good for travel, but the thorn-bushes were a serious obstacle. Water was a daily cause for anxiety, and was usually to be procured only at places where the natives had recently dug for it with success. The country is deluged at the time of the rainy season, and pools remain for a while at many places, but they

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