 An easygoing man, he was able to get on with the Bushman hunters of the semi-desert interior and spent long periods in their company, obtaining valuable help from them.Returning to Ngami, he travelled north to the Okavango River, crossing Damaraland and reaching Walvis Bay.Here he busied himself with cattle-trading in Damaraland, before setting out on an expedition with his brother Henry and Thomas Baines and lasting from December 1860 to September 1864.