After two days’ hard work, the axletree was formed into shape, the necessary holes were bored through it, and Mr. Bam laid it by, so that if his present one fairly broke, he could, with a day’s work and ordinary tools, put in the new one, which, in the meantime, was left to season thoroughly. I began now to see something of the character of my men, and what they were fit for. They had on the whole worked willingly and well; but a great deal of pilfering had been going on. In the constant loading and unloading of my many things, it was impossible but that several occasions should occur for the servants to steal them, and some had certainly done so. However, I said nothing, but Andersson and myself both kept a sharp look-out. Mr. Bam had assured me of the general honesty of the natives at his station, in such strong terms, that I felt I could safely accept a kind offer that he made, and leave all my boxes with him, in the outhouse that I had occupied, and take the whole of my men with me. It seems that these Hottentots have a great respect for locks and keys; the wooden store-house of the bay has been left entirely without protection for months, and although the natives knew that it was then full of the very things they valued so highly, no occasion was known of their having broken into it. The sandy soil is a great check upon dishonesty, for the spoor remains to tell of the thief and his whereabouts. I had made my first attempts at mapping. From the sand-hills above Scheppmansdorf, Walfisch Bay could be seen clearly; and as many distant mountains were visible from both stations, I could begin triangulating. The mountains of the Swakop, on the other side of the desert plain to our north, were clear in the blue distance. A few peaked hills were more in the foreground, and I took the bearings, as well as the natives could point out, of the place we were first to aim for. Our first stage is a very difficult one. It occupies sixteen hours’ actual travelling, exclusive of all stoppages. There is no grass for the oxen, or water either; though a few cup-fulls of the latter can be found in a granite rock after the first twelve hours’ journey; and there is generally so thick a mist on the plain, that, travelling, as people generally do, all through the night, there is every probability of losing the path. The consequence is, that the plain is covered with false waggon-roads in every direction, and a great number of oxen have died on the way. The natives of the place are no better than the strangers; as soon as they lose their road they go wandering about, not only till daylight, but till the fog clears away and shows them where they are. Losing the way is the rule here, and not the exception; and a person who has crossed the plain without doing so, rather plumes himself upon the feat.