James Chapman

Journey summary:

In 1855 journeys from Kalahari in the east towards ‘Walvisch Bay’, via ‘Eikhams’ (Windhoek).

Primary source material:

Chapman, J. 1971 Travels into the Interior of Africa 1849-1863. Hunting and Trading Journeys. From Natal to Walvis Bay & Visits to Lake Ngami & Victoria Falls. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema.

James Chapman (1831-1872), who was born in Cape Town and ‘lived all his life in southern Africa, hunting and trading for a living’^[1], confirms the presence of Berg Damara [**what is the term he uses?] in the ‘Bokberg’[goat mountain^[2]]/Erongo^[3], although observed to have lost large flocks of sheep and goats through raiding by Nama^[4]; and also in Black Nossop area^[5]. Prior to ‘Hottentot invasions’, he reports ‘Damara’ [Herero] around Rietfontein[we] and Olifantskloof [just over border into Botswana]^[6], mentioning ‘impoverished Herero grubbing for roots’^[7]. Described as,

a naturalist, not by education, but decidedly by inclination … [h]is diary is full of references to rhinoceros, both black and white, which he encountered during his travels. His remarks may be cursory, but they remain a record of how ubiquitous the rhinoceros was in his day.^[8]

He reports in 1855 that ‘[s]ome of the oldest natives at the Lake [Ngami] had heard that the Damaras[Herero] were driven by a more powerful tribe from the east; they found their way to the Lake, whence some steered directly westward, while others went northwards to Lebebe's present territory [?where], remained there a number of years, then migrated south and west. Damara tradition corroborates their having come from the east about 70 or 80 years ago^[9].

Chapman travels in this year through Ghanzi area of Botswana, observing that Olifont’s Kloof on border between Namibia and Botswana ‘is the eastern boundary of the chief Amraal's territory, the eastern portion being at present governed by his son Lamert’^[10]. At this time ‘Twass’, west of Olifont’s Kloof was ‘the usual resident of the chief Lamert, from which he had lately moved to the north’^[11]. He also observes ‘Damara’/Herero women wearing ‘several strings of heavy and cumbersome iron beads round their legs, also a few common Portuguese beads, which they informed us came from Nangoro’s, chief of a large nation far to the northwest and near a river Cunene, flowing from the country of the Baveko [where] [t]hey say that many rivers there run westward, and that the tsetse is unknown^[12].

On 20th Sept., while waiting for the oxen which had been sent to drink at a fountain near ‘Twass’, west of Olifont’s Kloof, he writes that

about 20 armed and mounted men issued from the grey kroutse bushes to the north and, having tethered their horses, came to the wagons. Lamert, the Namaqua chief, with an ill-looking guard of honour, presented themselves; he approached with a profound and respectful bow, and we were pleased to shake hands with him, a civility he evidently did not expect. We seated him on a vatje or water cask and scrutinised the group, the majority of whom looked more like plunderers and assassins than anything else … One or two young men, the chiefs sons, were of a milder expression and appeared intelligent and well-dressed, but the remainder were men of short stature and a pale copper colour, with withered frames and dilapidated constitutions. They wore leather trousers and hats of coarse colonial manufacture with broad brims and low crowns; they seemed very proud of these and had them decorated with broad scarlet ribbons and huge tassels. Some wore trousers and coat without a shirt, or had other strange costumes, among which were castoff longtailed coats and black beaver hats.  

The chief was an exception. He wore a snuff-brown cloth coat, the usual hat with a gaudy ribbon, a coarse white shirt, a tweed waistcoat, moleskin trousers, and veldtshoes. Lamert has a pleasing but idiotic expression of countenance. He was the only one of the party who pretended to speak Dutch, but this was policy. He came to purchase gunpowder, and I anticipated his design by making him a present of what we could spare, to avoid trading with a troublesome people. But I have no doubt we could have bought many a fine large ox for 2 lbs. of gunpowder or 50 leaded bullets each.  

Lamert Lamert is the son of Amraal Lamert, chief of a numerous people called Gam Naka (Lion’s Hair), consisting of 1000 or 1200 souls, besides slaves. Amraal is now an old man and good Christian who, being more inclined for rest and devotion, allows his son to rule the largest portion of the tribe. He finds it difficult to prevent them from making frequent destructive raids upon the Damaras possessing cattle. Lamert is allowed to be a very moderate man, but he is accused of sanctioning these expeditions and taking part in them. In order to carry on these operations without paternal reproach, he keep himself far apart from his father, who lives with a missionary at Wesleyvale, (14:8) fifty miles to the southwest. Amraal is upwards of 70 but is remarkably hale for his age. He was formerly a slave at Cape Town in the time of the Dutch East India Company, and fought for them against the British forces at the Cape and at Blouberg.  

The Namaquas, having not patience enough, practise no agriculture. They are men of impulse, prodigal in the extreme and of idle and dissolute habits. They dwell in mud huts, like the Korannas, and live on milk, meat and tobacco, which latter they imbibe with their mothers' milk, so young do they learn to use the pipe. They are exceedingly fond of intoxicating liquors and have ingeniously learnt to distill spirit from the wild maretlwa berry, with a gun barrel, an iron pot and an [170] inverted kettle. They are very excitable and when intoxicated are dangerous and desperate, but when sober I have always considered them arrant cowards. They are well aware of this, for when they contemplate mischief they invariably resort to intoxicating liquors to get their courage up ....  

One of the principal ingredients in their beer making is a kind of barm called moer, made of the root of a gourd resembling the cucumber, which grows all over the desert. This barm ferments a bottle of honey in a pail of water in 4 hours on a warm day and produces a pleasant drink like ginger beer. This drink has scarcely any effect on Europeans, but the Hottentots are easily prostrated by it. They also make a kind of cider by the same process from the maretlwa and mogoana berries.  

The Hottentots practise polygamy, but the missionaries informed me that very few children are born when it prevails. One of the tribes tried it, to increase their numbers and power. Each man took as many wives as he could support, but there was a decrease in a few years, while among those living at mission stations with only one wife there was a considerable increase.  

The Namaquas use the servile Damaras [Herero?] only as cattle herds, and they fear the latter will some day run off with their herds or seek revenge on their masters. Under this apprehension they often butcher whole villages of wretched Damaras, who scarcely ever resist. One starving party of Damaras having lately fled with some cattle, the neighbouring Namaquas resolved to go round the country next winter and kill all the Damaras for whom they had no employment, especially those at Elephant's Kloof; the Namaquas feared the latter, being half-starved, would run off with the cattle.  

Had a piece of iron welded by Lamert, who is a good blacksmith. Started on our journey travelled 4 hours, and next morning reached the deserted village of Twass. Pallahs, springboks and steenboks grazed amongst the deserted Namaqua habitation. We shot some of these, and a few guineafowls. We were surprised at the number of bones of different animals that lay bleaching about the fountains all the way from the Lake. Skulls of every kind of animal lay about in such numbers as to show plainly not merely destruction, but also great waste.^[13] 

Two short treks from Twass brought us to Elephant's Fountain [Epako / Gobabis] … where we found a Damara village and the ruins of a missionary house and chapel. The valley is exceedingly pretty .... The place is famous for the growth of good tobacco, the culture of which is monopolized by one or two half-civilized Damaras. There are several fountains and, when missionaries lived here, one which bubbles out within a few feet of their house was visited nightly by troops of elephants. Now only lions, zebras and antelopes frequent it.  

29th Sept. ‘we bargained with a guide to take us a short cut of 30 miles to the [White] Nossop River, and which had not yet been travelled, for a paltry 10 bullets. Springboks, hartebeests, quaggas and ostriches were constantly in view, and there were many indications of lions and giraffes here’.  

**image ‘The Namaqua Kraal’, Chapman, p169.

Two days later, a few hours brought us to a Namaqua village at Kalkfontein, or Witvley [Witvlei], inhabited by the most lawless set of vagabonds in this country. They gave us a great deal of trouble, importuning us for gunpowder and lead, of which we had none to spare. On preparing to depart, one of them, in an authoritative manner and with violent gestures and threats, forbade our leaving until their [171] chief had seen us. Being not inclined to delay our journey for the chief or for him, we coolly went on, as the gang were fast getting up their courage by drinking honey beer.  

We were glad to leave these detestable people behind, and in 5 hours we struck the northern bank of the Nossop River, shaded with an unbroken line of mimosas for a great distance. This periodical river, the largest in this part of the country, has its source in a mountain range a little north of Jonker Africander’s town in Damaraland. From the point where we struck it the river flows southeast, is joined by the waters of Elephant’s Fountain [Black Nossob], passes the mission station at Wesleyvale, and flows into the Great Fish River. The Nossop is crossed at intervals by ridges of rock, succeeded by plains of calcareous rock with hills of conglomerates … These hills were strongly impregnated with copper, and one stratum crossing our path was strewn with lumps of copper ore, some samples of which we brought away with us. No water is found in the Nossop at this season, except by digging shallow wells, into which the water, sparkling with particles of mica, quickly percolated.  

4 Oct. Two days afterwards … travelled over a wide plain and struck the Nossop again. The monotonous scenery was occasionally enlivened by a few hartebeests, wildebeests, ostriches and springboks. Shooting a few springboks and catching a young one caused diversion to men and dogs. After a trek of 1 1/2 hours on the morning of the 6th, we stopped at a Berg Damara village. These people kill abundance of game and, like the Macobas of the Lake, hang on a tree the hoofs, horns, head and gall, to propitiate their deity for future luck. At night the lions roared around us. Again crossing the river, and a stream joining it from the south, we saw for the first time the wildeperd[?**], (14:12) which generally inhabits mountainous regions. The only game we bagged were springboks, steenboks and pous[?**].  

We now travelled west over ground containing mica, ironstone, quartz, granite, slate and sandstone, with mountains of mica schist and talc. Course in the afternoon west for about 4 hours. Next morning, after a trek of about 3 hours in the same direction, we struck into the main road on Jonker’s mountain, about 5000 feet above sea level, but some of the peaks must be a full thousand feet higher.  

10 Oct. In the afternoon … we descended a steep mountain to the abode of the chief Jonker Africander. (14: 13) Our wagons were well secured with drags, ... and after 5 hours we found ourselves in a deep valley, in a warm, close and apparently unhealthy region.  

An hour’s trek next morning brought us opposite to Jonker’s town, after passing the ruins of a mission house at Eikhams, (14: 14) a lovely spot on the slope of a hill clothed with mimosa trees, down which pours a clear stream from a hot mineral fountain. Here we met two slaves who had been taken by the English from the Portuguese and set free at Cape Town; they said they came originally from Lake Maravi [Lake Malawi], (14:15) near the east coast. They had adopted the dress of the Damaras and married Damara women, and spoke the Damara language fluently. As they remembered their own language, I found many words in it common to both.  

A few hours’ journey down the valley, on the river bank, brought us to an old town, enclosed with stone walls as a defence against the Rooivolk, (14:16) a tribe of Hottentots living southwards, who had been attacked recently by Jonker with small success.  

We now passed through beautiful and varied scenery, of hills and rocks, mimosa groves and clear pools of water, the latter losing themselves in the pebbly bed of the Swagoup River. (14: 17) An accident to the pole of one of our wagons brought us to a stand in the bed of the Swagoup, where I shot a beautiful salamander ...  

On the 17th of October we reached the mission station of Barmen, the residence of the Rev. Hugo Hahn, (14:18) who was now absent, ... Near this station were indications of copper ore on the surface, and the ground is composed in places of angular pebbles of iron pyrites. The hills are composed of schist and slaty sandstone impregnated with mica, and hot mineral springs abound. Here we saw two females who had had their feet cut off by the ruthless Namaquas for the sake of brass and iron rings they wore [**are these the same actual women that Galton encounters?]. We were told of another female who had her feet cut off for trying to run away from her thralldom.  

Crossing the Swagoup several times in a southwest direction, we came in an hour or two to another hot spring called Otjikango Katiete. (14: 19) Many hawks and other birds, and dogs and other animals, had scalded themselves to death some time before. Quartz and limestone abound, and baboons perched everywhere on the distant heights.  

Otjimbengwe, which we reached in 2 days, is the residence of a missionary, the abode of many Damaras [Herero], and the depot of a mining company. A place of considerable importance, it is considered the capital of Damaraland, now Jonker Africander’s territory by conquest. The Kuisip River forms the boundary between Damaraland and Great Namaqualand, and all Damaras acknowledge the supremacy of Jonker. The nationality of the Damara is lost, and their language and manners are being fast corrupted by those of the Namaquas. The missionaries say the Damaras are cowardly and made no resistance when attacked by the Namaquas. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Damaras live on roots and berries, and outnumber probably 10 or 12 times the Hottentots, but there is no unity among them. This may be accounted for by their having lived in small clans plundering each other of their cattle. Even now they would prefer joining the Hottentots in a raid on their own people, to uniting with them against their common enemy.  

Many Damaras live at the mission station here, both for protection against the Hottentots and for instruction. Besides his religious teaching, Mr. Rath encourages them to make gardens, instead of depending on their few cattle and what they pick up in the wilds. They are wonderfully industrious, considering their past life of idleness. Those under Mr. Rath and Mr. Hornemann’s (14:20) tuition are taking rapidly to gardening and irrigation. Many of them were working for the mining company for only their daily food, and glad to find employment. We had many servants to work for one meal of flesh per day, and many wished to go with us to Cape Town and be our slaves for life[?!]. All they asked was food. We might have carried off hundreds of Damara slaves without opposition from the Hottentots, who would be only too glad to see some of them depart.  

Until recently the Hottentots asserted no rights over this country. They had subdued the Damaras for their cattle and only enough land for pasturage, and their [173] territory was limited. For 170 miles inland from the coast and to a considerable distance northwards, the country was inhabited by Berg Damaras, whose habits, like the Bushmen of Natal, were not calculated to encourage cattle grazing in their neighbourhood. Recently, the people of the Walvisch Bay Mining Company here, probably without the sanction of the shareholders and chief manager, who reside at Cape Town, have led Jonker to believe that all this country, even to the coast, belongs to him, and that it was optional with him whether missionaries were to be tolerated at Otjimbengwe. He was prevailed on to write Mr. Rath, to say that the latter was there on sufference and was subservient to him. At the same time, fearing it was our[?whose?] intention to form a rival company at the Cape, the local manager (14:21) induced the chief to write us an insolent letter, ordering us out of his country at once and forbidding us to enter it again. Such conduct from Jonker without cause surprised us. But, as it was impossible for us to leave till a vessel came to Walvisch Bay, 120 miles distant, I paid no attention to the letter.  

At an interview shortly afterwards, Jonker confessed that the manager had made him drunk and got him to sign the letter without knowing its contents. He strongly pressed me to return, that he would throw his whole country open to me, and that I might establish a mining company anywhere in it. I later received much kindness and civility from him.  

As an impartial observer I have seen a good deal of missionary life and labour, and may be allowed to offer a few remarks on the origin of the dislike of whites for missionaries, here and in the Colony. The assertion, that the missionaries in this country are all traders, is incorrect .... (14:22)  

All this country is well adapted to raising cattle, sheep and goats. There are not many running streams, except hot mineral springs, but all the periodical rivers hold water from 6 to 12 inches below their beds of sand and gravel. When rains fall 200 miles east in summer, overwhelming floods roar down suddenly and often carry off some unfortunate family sleeping on the bank. Grain is cultivated in the river beds, to save the trouble of irrigation, and the Damaras have reaped some fine crops. Vegetables of every kind grow well on the low alluvial banks. Besides copper ore, ivory will shortly be exported from Walvisch Bay, as the natives are becoming alive to its value. Sweet gum and gum arabic could be collected in great quantities, and hides and skins will always form a principal   export ....  

The Damaras [Herero] chip out the front teeth and cut off the smaller finger[??- this is a Nama/’Berg Damara’ practice], and they are very like the Bechuanas when expressing themselves ... , The clans or aendas of the Damaras each worship a different deity, under the common name omukuru, old or great one. (14:23) These rites descend from one generation to another through the female line. ... They are said to wail over their dead for many years, returning to their graves and performing ceremonies, and making sacrifices to propitiate them. It is said they die happy if there is a chance of a wolf or jackal benefitting by their corpse. They say that, when men and animals first came out of the omborombonga tree, all was darkness, and a fire kindled by a Damara caused all to flee saving domestic animals; thus they account for the wildness of the other animals and their fear of men and fire.
The Damaras believe in witchcraft, and their doctors or wizards are called [174] omundu onganga. (14:24) They hold many superstitions in common with the Bechuanas, Bushmen and other South African tribes, such as forbidden meats, which they dare not eat for fear of bad luck. Polygamy is common amongst them, some having as many as 10 or 12 wives, or even 20. Like the Bechuanas, girls are affianced while still babies. The price of a wife was formerly from 2 to 10 head of cattle, but in their present poverty the parents are often glad to take one cow for a daughter. The eldest son of the principal or first wife inherits his father’s property.  

Besides chipping the teeth, the Damaras practise circumcision, but the ceremony is not attended with the same pomp and circumstance as with the Bechuanas. The first fruits are first tested by the chiefs. They bury their dead in a sitting position. Though they are great gluttons, they do not think of eating in the presence of any of their tribe without sharing their meal, for fear of being visited by a curse from their deity ....
The Damaras have fine figures and well-chiseled features, and a careworn cast of countenance. The young females are good-looking, but soon after maturity they begin to wither. They are not a chaste or moral people, and are the greatest gluttons I ever met with. Their weapons are a brightly polished, large-bladed spear, a number of knobkerries strung in their girdle, and a bow 5 1/2 feet long, with poisoned arrows 3 feet long.  

The Berg Damaras, Obalorotwa or Ghou Damap (signifying locust eaters), (14:25) are of shorter stature and are a fine, well-built race, but more robust than the Obaherreru [Herero] or Cattle Damaras. They speak the same language as the Namaquas, and circumcise by cutting off the little finger of each hand. Like the Macobas, they make offerings to their deity by hanging, on a tree in their village, the horns and hoofs of all the game they kill, as well as the reptiles, such as lizards and chameleons, which they do not eat. They kill wild animals by infecting pools of water with poisonous euphorbia juice, and that of another milky bush. They kill the white rhino with the same drug, although the black one eats the same bush with impunity.  

Mr. Rath, who took a great interest in improving the condition of the Damaras, called my attention to a silky substance in certain bulbs, and asked me to take some of them to the Cape and see whether anything could be done with them. I also brought some sweet gum, of which large quantities could be gathered, but I could find no one in Cape Town interested in the matter. If these bulbs could be used by manufacturers, many tons can be gathered by the Damaras.  

Having settled our business, and sold our wagons and oxen to the mining company under the condition of our use of them to Walvisch Bay, we left Otjimbengwe[Otjimbingwe] with a train of 7 or 8 wagons, each laden with about 1200 lbs. of copper ore. The company's oxen soon left us behind, but our drivers said, "Wait till we get to the heavy road," and walked steadily alongside our teams, each dragging more than 4500 lbs.

Next morning we crossed the Tsoubis River (14:26) near its junction with the Swagoup[Swakop], passing some granite peaks of fantastic shape. Here we found a small muddy pool and a deep well, from which it was difficult to get the water. Having no vessel for a dipper, I tied a bunch of grass together, soaked it well, and held it over my mouth, when water streamed from it.

[175] Left Tsoubis and travelled all night by a circuitous and stony road. We reached Onanies (14:27) next morning. Rested the cattle there a day, then crossed a wide plain, covered with vast herds of springboks. Passing between some conical hills, we reached next day a dry nullah called Tingas, (14: 28) some pools of brackish water in its bed. The place is a notorious haunt of lions. From Tingas we had about 13 hours to travel without water or grass.
Started in the afternoon of the following day, travelled all night, and next morning reached Oesip Gorge, (14:29) where we rested a day, sending the oxen to water 7 miles distant. This barren plain had scarcely any vegetation, for rain falls here perhaps only once in ten years.  

We had still to trek across the Narriep Desert, (14:30) and nothing can be more dreary. The oxen dragged slowly along through the sand, resting only half an hour while we made coffee under a huge mass of granite. Such masses are numerous in this region. After travelling 15 hours without unyoking, we reached an outspan termed Sandfontein. (14:31) Brackish water was obtained through percolation into the hollows of the sandhills. We had to send the oxen to a somewhat better watering place of the same kind, 3 miles off, where they obtained a few reeds, or hard grass, poor provender for hard-worked cattle.  

Many narras, (14:32) pale-green gourds growing on a prickly creeping shrub, are found amongst the white sandhills here. The sand deposited by the wind accumulates against these shrubs, thus forming the base of these shifting sandhills. The gourd is pleasant, though mawkish, to the taste, and the natives eat their seeds, which are rich in oil, very nutritious, and taste like almonds. The pulp is made into a jam, which is spread on level sand to dry and then packed in sheets resembling cardboard for the winter. The narra is eaten by every animal and almost every kind of bird, particularly the ostrich, and no human could exist here without this gift of Providence.  

This country belongs to the Beach Hottentots, (14:33) a small tribe living at Sheppmansdorp, 18 miles south of Walvisch Bay. They subsist on the narra and on fish, which they spear with a gemsbok horn or an assegai. They possess a few cattle and guns. Each family has its assigned portion of narra bush, which grows only in this locality. Only jackals, hyenas, reptiles and a few ostriches* [‘*H.E. Sir George Grey recently communicated to me the result of a successful, humane and important experiment. The white feathers, about 40, of the ostriches kept in the gardens at Government House were plucked after the birds were chloroformed. In a few months the birds grew new feathers. This may lead to the domestication of these valuable and magnificent birds, whose feathers at Cape Town are worth £10 per pound.’] inhabit the dense dabby bushes (14:34) in the bed of the Kuissip River, which falls into Walvisch Bay.  

An hour of toilsome trekking in the bed of the Kuisip brought us to an open plain, 2 miles in extent, where we came in sight of the only habitation at Walvisch Bay. It was a small wooden house near the beach, surmounted by a flagstaff and on a mound thrown up to raise the house, as the plain is inundated by the sea at every change of the moon, and by the river at rarer intervals. An extraordinary mirage [176] contorts everything into fantastic shapes, ... Besides large flocks of flamingoes, pelicans and cormorants abound. The flamingoes at night drive the fish in the shallow lagoons by flapping their wings on the water near the shore and catch the fish while they flounder.  

Walvisch Bay is a safe harbour, vessels of almost any tonnage anchoring within hailing distance of the beach. The harbour is exposed to the northwest winds, but the anchorage is perfectly safe. At this part of the bay I have never seen a swell, and there is no surf. Southward and westward the harbour is protected by a point of land called Pelican Point.  

A general fishing establishment might be successfully formed here, the only drawback being the 3 miles distance from the sea. Whales abound on this coast, and during our stay we saw nearly every day 2 or 3 playing about in the bay. Porpoises come in large shoals, so near they can be harpooned from the shore; while in chase of small fish they often get out of their element and are stranded. The smaller sharks we speared all day a few feet from the edge of the water, and caught in the same way numbers of rays of various kinds, the most common having a venomous sting on its barbed tail. Soles are also common here. Seals are occasionally killed.  

Several kinds of sharks yield large quantities of oil, that of the black shark, which I tested, being as good as cod-liver oil. Captain Bruce took in one month 22 fish yielding 200 barrels of oil, and he killed a black shark measuring 22 feet 6 inches, which yielded 80 gallons of oil from the liver. This oil, I was told by a Cape Town medical man, would be a great boon and benefit to the poor if brought into general use. Mr. Hahn cured a Damara in the last stage of consumption with shark-liver oil. The man-eating or bone shark, peculiar to this coast, grows up to 30 feet long and yields a large quantity of oil.  

We had frequent opportunities of seeing the Beach Hottentots, a filthy race, who are employed by the white men to run errands or carry letters. We made the acquaintance of Mr. Bam, the missionary at Sheppmansdorp, (14:35) and his family, kind and hospitable people living a lonely life amongst utter savages. A month or two later, during a fever which carried off a number of his small flock, this worthy man died in my arms. Most of the natives were prostrated by the fever, and the others exhibited a want of commiseration for the widow, refused to assist her in any way, and made on her continual demands for provisions and other things.  

The few white people at the Bay did all in their power to alleviate the calamity. We hunted out all the planks we could find, and broke up a few benches in the chapel. A kind stranger at the station, whose name I have forgotten, made a coffin for the missionary. Assisted by a number of Hottentots of his congregation, we carried him to the grave, round which assembled the widow and her weeping children, Mr. and Mrs. Latham, the stranger and myself. At the request of Mrs. Bam, Latham and I read the burial service of the Church of England. It was a truly melancholy scene, ... As we could not leave the widow and children to the mercy of savages, we took them to the Bay, where they had every kindness from Mrs. Latham, till they found an opportunity of returning to the Cape. Thus the mission at Sheppmansdorp was broken up. At first we enjoyed the return to civilized habits after our long wanderings, but the protracted delay became irksome. The monotony of this dreary coast was relieved by the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Latham, the only English residents at the Bay, whose hospitality is extended to all who land there. Mr. Latham is a man of considerable intelligence and attainments, sadly wasted on this desert soil. His kind-hearted wife, having spent much time in Damaraland, had romantic adventures to recount, ... In the society of these worthy people we enjoyed many happy hours.  

   On our arrival at Walvisch Bay I was delighted to hear that a vessel was expected to touch there on her voyage to England, and hoped for that opportunity of visiting my fatherland for a few months. We waited weeks and months in vain, and Edwards and myself were glad to take passage in the Eblana, which arrived to discharge her cargo at the Bay and return to Cape Town. Embarking in this vessel on the 21st of January 1856, the course carried us considerably to the west. We tacked about and on the 23rd reached Sandwich Harbour, where the captain had to take in some fish. We touched at Hottentot Bay and Ichaboe Island, where we took in a quantity of guano. Calling in Succession at Angra Pequena (14:36) and other small harbours, we cast anchor in Table Bay on the 1st of March 1856.^[14] 

1860s

​​James Chapman pioneers the use of stereoscopic pictures in his travels in south-west Africa^[15].

1862

James Chapman takes stereoscopic photographs in southern and central Namibia^[16].

1869

James Chapman in his 1868 account records that ‘Dama to the north of Walvis Bay sometimes went to an old wreck… to get copper to convert into beads’^[17], as well as Herero trading ‘with Wambo on the Kunene for Portuguese glass beads’^[18]. He claims that ‘Nama stole large flocks of sheep and goats from the Dama in the Erongo’^[19], and that:

in August, after early rains had fallen, the grass was on fire every night as a result of the Dama using fire to flush out a daily supply of mice and lizards^[20].

At Olifantskloof, just into present-day Botswana, Chapman observes that Herero were in clientship relations with Nama, herding the latter’s cattle, had lost their herds to raiding ‘equalling in poverty the most wretched Bushman’ even though ‘[t]hey were once the possessors of immense flocks and herds and owners of the soil where they now grubbed for roots’^[21].

1870s

‘[S]everal hunting trips to Kaoko and western Owambo’ made by James Chapman in this decade^[22].

1869[**check date]

James Chapman is also reported to have established a cattle station at Otjimbingwe by this year^[23], or at least he travels from his camp ‘at the western end of Lake Ngami’, accompanied by W.C. Palgrave (1833-97), ‘sportsman, hunter, trader’, to reach Otjimbingwe in February this year^[24].   

1874

William Chapman, son of the explorer James Chapman, is reported to join a trading firm in Walvis Bay, where there were four houses when he landed – he is quoted in [Lawrence] Green as writing of Walvis Bay that,

[t]here were Englishmen, South Africans, Swedes and Dutch, all heavy drinkers … [t]he only exceptions were the German missionaries. Bastards also came from Rehoboth and drank cases of gin and cognac before departing. Some of the white traders had white wives; others had taken Bastard, Herero or Hottentot women^[25].

To be contd. …