After this little adventure, we continued our route at a pretty quick pace over a hard, crisp, gravely country, totally devoid of water, with scarcely a vestige of vegetation.
It was not until about ten o’clock at night, and after having traveled nearly twelve hours, that we reached a small granite rock, at the foot of which we succeeded in obtaining a few pints of very brackish water. Both Mr. Galton and myself were very tired. In order to save the horses, and to give the men an occasional mount, we had walked a considerable part of the way; and after partaking of some coffee, &c., we quickly resigned our weary limbs to sleep.
At break of day we were again stirring; and while the men were harnessing the mules, &c., I ascended the rock, where I discovered a most beautiful air-plant in full blossom, of a bright scarlet color, with the lower part of the interior of the corolla tinged with lemon.
The sight of such a lovely flower in this dreary and desolate region excited within me some emotion, and I now fully appreciated the touching expression of Mungo Park, when, having in a state of complete exhaustion thrown himself down to die, he discovered at his side a beautiful little moss, and exclaimed, “Can that Being who planted, watered, and brought to perfection in this obscure part of the world a thing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of a creature formed after his own image? Surely not.”
Even the mighty Nimrod, Gordon Cumming, whose whole soul one would imagine to be engrossed by lions and elephants, seems to have been struck with equal delight as myself at the sight of this charming flower: “In the heat of the chase,” says he, “I paused, spell-bound, to contemplate with admiration its fascinating beauty.”
We continued our journey over the same sterile plain (Naarip) till about ten o’clock A.M., when we suddenly entered a narrow and desolate-looking mountain gorge, called Usab, sloping rapidly toward the bed of a periodical river. Here, under the shade of a stunted acacia, Stewardson recommended us to “outspan;” and, leaving our cook in charge of the cart, we proceeded with the animals at once in search of water.
For more than two miles we continued to follow the gorge, which, as we approached the river, assumed a more gloomy, though perhaps more striking appearance, being overhung with towering and fantastically-shaped granite rocks. Notwithstanding this, the river—to which the natives give the name of Schwackaup, or Swakop, as Europeans call it—presented a most cheerful and pleasant aspect; for, though not flowing at the time, its moist bed was luxuriantly overgrown with grass, creepers, and pretty ice-plants. The banks on either side were also more or less lined with gigantic reeds, of a most refreshing color; and above the reeds rose several beautiful trees, such as the acacia, the black ebony, &c.
Under a projecting rock, a few hundred paces from the spot where we struck upon the river, we discovered a pool of excellent water, where man and beast, in long and copious drafts, soon quenched a burning thirst. This being done, we indulged in a delicious bath, which highly refreshed our fatigued and dusty limbs.
On a lofty and inaccessible rock overhanging the river-bed I again saw some of those beautiful flowers which in the early morning had caused me so much delight, and, with a well-directed ball, I brought down one almost to my feet.
In the sand we discovered the broad footprints of a rhinoceros. From their freshness it was apparent that the monster had visited the river-bed during the preceding night, but all our endeavors to rouse him proved ineffectual.