The Otjombindè, without materially taking us out of our direct route, had thus far befriended us; but, if I wished to reach the Lake, it was now out of the question any longer to follow this river, as hence it pursued too southerly a course. According to the advice of the Bushmen, therefore, we now left it to the right, and struck out in a northerly direction through an intensely dense “Wacht-een-bigte” (thorn-jungle). After a few hours’ travel, “we packed-off” to the eastward of some dilapidated limestone pits; but, though they contained water, from the depth of the cavities, and the difficulty of access to them, it occupied the men several hours to supply the wants of our small herd of cattle. The next stage—a short one—we slept without water. In the course of the following day’s march we had traversed dense brakes which annoyed us excessively, for the thorns not only tore our flesh and clothes, but subtracted several articles of value from the pack-saddles. Among other losses, I had to bewail that of two magnificent flags—the British and the Swedish—which had been expressly made for and presented to me by my friend, Mr. Letterstedt, the Swedish consul-general at the Cape, and which I hoped to have unfurled on the shores of the far-famed Ngami. All my efforts to recover these valued standards proved fruitless, some hyænas having probably swallowed the Anglo-Saxon Lion and the Swedish Cross. At dusk, after having been ten hours in the saddle, we reached a famous place called Ghanzé, where we pitched our camp. CHAPTER XXX. Ghanzé.—Spotted Hyæna.—The Rhinoceros.—Where found.—Several Species.—Description of Rhinoceros.—Size.— Appearance.—Age.—Strength.—Speed.—Food.—Water.—The Young.—Affection.—Senses.—Disposition.—Gregarious.— Indolence.—Domestication.—Flesh.—Horns.—The Chase.—Mr. Oswell’s Adventures with Rhinoceroses.—A Crotchet.—Where to aim at the Rhinoceros.—Does not bleed externally when wounded.—Great numbers slain annually. Ghanzé, according to the interpretation of my Griqua, signifies very large, and yet very small. Absurd as this explanation may appear, there is, nevertheless, some aptness in it. The “very large” means that from the moisture of the ground there is an indication of much water, while the real quantity is trifling. Ghanzé is a peculiar and dreary-looking place, consisting of an extensive hollow with innumerable small stones scattered over its surface, and one side fenced by a natural limestone wall three to five feet in height. The whole is hemmed in with thorn coppices intersected by numerous footpaths, the work of those huge creatures, the elephant and the rhinoceros, who have probably wandered here for ages in undisputed sway. Here and there an “iron-tree,” the mythological progenitor of the Damaras, stands majestically forth, shooting its wide-spreading branches high into space.