NATIVE GROUP FRONTISPIECE. THE THORNS OF DAMARA-LAND Page vii TRAVELLER WITH PACK-OXEN 103 CHAPUPA, A DAMARA CHIEF 171 DAMARA WOMAN 189 DAMARA WEAPONS, ETC. 194 CAMP IN OVAMPO-LAND 210 NANGORO, KING OF THE OVAMPO 220 OVAMPO WEAPONS, UTENSILS, ETC. 224 SETTING A GUN AS A SPRING-GUN 286 HOTTENTOT METHOD OF CARRYING A GUN ON HORSE OR OX-BACK 302 MAPS AT THE END. TROPICAL SOUTH AFRICA. CHAPTER I. Determine to travel in Africa.—Motives for the Journey.—Preparations.—Stock in Trade.—An Emigrant Ship.—Arrival at Cape Town.—Dangers of the Road.—Change of Route.—Determine to proceed by Walfisch Bay.—Necessary Outfit.—Prospects of the Route.—Travelling Cortège.—Servants and Dogs.—Arrival at Walfisch Bay.—The Natives.—Extraordinary Mirage.—The Kuisip River.—Tobacco.—Ride-Oxen.—Disembarking.—Misadventure at Starting.—Perils of the Desert.—The ’Nara.—The Mission at Scheppmansdorf. It was in 1849 that I determined upon a long travel in Africa. I had been there once; and then, landing at Alexandria, sailed or rode far beyond all the deserts, temples, and cataracts of Egypt, until I had fairly entered the “Soudan,” or country of the Blacks—that zone of the tropical vegetation, to which the name of Central Africa properly applies. It was a tour hastily performed, but still sufficient to imbue or poison me with that fascination for further enterprise, which African tourists have so especially felt—a fascination which has often enough proved its power by urging the same traveller to risk his comfort, his health, and his life, over and over again, and to cling with pertinacity to a country which after all seems to afford little else but hazard and hardships, ivory and fever. The motive which principally induced me to undertake this journey was the love of adventure. I am extremely fond of shooting, and that was an additional object; and lastly such immense regions of Africa lie utterly unknown, that I could not but feel that there was every probability of much being discovered there, which, besides being new, would also be useful and interesting. A large field lay open to any explorer who might wish to attempt the enterprise, and I chose to undertake the task. The discovery that was made of Lake Ngami, in South Africa, gave a direction to my plans; and in the beginning of 1850 I fixed on the Cape as the point at which to enter Africa.