The Bakwains, The Bangwaketze,
And The Bamangwato All Fled Thither; And The Matebele Marauders,
Who Came From The Well-Watered East, Perished By Hundreds
In Their Attempts To Follow Them.
One of the Bangwaketze chiefs,
more wily than the rest, sent false guides to lead them on a track where,
for hundreds of miles, not a drop of water could be found,
and they perished in consequence.
Many Bakwains perished too.
Their old men, who could have told us ancient stories,
perished in these flights. An intelligent Mokwain related to me
how the Bushmen effectually balked a party of his tribe
which lighted on their village in a state of burning thirst.
Believing, as he said, that nothing human could subsist without water,
they demanded some, but were coolly told by these Bushmen that they had none,
and never drank any. Expecting to find them out, they resolved to watch them
night and day. They persevered for some days, thinking that at last
the water must come forth; but, notwithstanding their watchfulness,
kept alive by most tormenting thirst, the Bakwains were compelled to exclaim,
"Yak! yak! these are not men; let us go." Probably the Bushmen
had been subsisting on a store hidden under ground, which had eluded
the vigilance of their visitors.
Chapter 3.
Departure from Kolobeng, 1st June, 1849 - Companions - Our Route -
Abundance of Grass - Serotli, a Fountain in the Desert -
Mode of digging Wells - The Eland - Animals of the Desert -
The Hyaena - The Chief Sekomi - Dangers - The wandering Guide -
Cross Purposes - Slow Progress - Want of Water - Capture of a Bushwoman
- The Salt-pan at Nchokotsa - The Mirage - Reach the River Zouga -
The Quakers of Africa - Discovery of Lake Ngami, 1st August, 1849 -
Its Extent - Small Depth of Water - Position as the Reservoir
of a great River System - The Bamangwato and their Chief -
Desire to visit Sebituane, the Chief of the Makololo -
Refusal of Lechulatebe to furnish us with Guides -
Resolve to return to the Cape - The Banks of the Zouga - Pitfalls -
Trees of the District - Elephants - New Species of Antelope -
Fish in the Zouga.
Such was the desert which we were now preparing to cross -
a region formerly of terror to the Bechuanas from the numbers of serpents
which infested it and fed on the different kinds of mice,
and from the intense thirst which these people often endured
when their water-vessels were insufficient for the distances
to be traveled over before reaching the wells.
Just before the arrival of my companions, a party of the people of the lake
came to Kolobeng, stating that they were sent by Lechulatebe,
the chief, to ask me to visit that country. They brought
such flaming accounts of the quantities of ivory to be found there
(cattle-pens made of elephants' tusks of enormous size, &c.),
that the guides of the Bakwains were quite as eager to succeed
in reaching the lake as any one of us could desire. This was fortunate,
as we knew the way the strangers had come was impassable for wagons.
Messrs. Oswell and Murray came at the end of May, and we all made a fair start
for the unknown region on the 1st of June, 1849. Proceeding northward,
and passing through a range of tree-covered hills to Shokuane,
formerly the residence of the Bakwains, we soon after entered
on the high road to the Bamangwato, which lies generally
in the bed of an ancient river or wady that must formerly have flowed N. to S.
The adjacent country is perfectly flat, but covered with open forest and bush,
with abundance of grass; the trees generally are a kind of acacia
called "Monato", which appears a little to the south of this region,
and is common as far as Angola. A large caterpillar, called "Nato",
feeds by night on the leaves of these trees, and comes down by day
to bury itself at the root in the sand, in order to escape
the piercing rays of the sun. The people dig for it there,
and are fond of it when roasted, on account of its pleasant vegetable taste.
When about to pass into the chrysalis state, it buries itself in the soil,
and is sometimes sought for as food even then. If left undisturbed,
it comes forth as a beautiful butterfly: the transmutation
was sometimes employed by me with good effect when speaking with the natives,
as an illustration of our own great change and resurrection.
The soil is sandy, and there are here and there indications
that at spots which now afford no water whatever there were formerly
wells and cattle stations.
Boatlanama, our next station, is a lovely spot in the otherwise dry region.
The wells from which we had to lift out the water for our cattle are deep,
but they were well filled. A few villages of Bakalahari were found near them,
and great numbers of pallahs, springbucks, Guinea-fowl, and small monkeys.
Lopepe came next. This place afforded another proof
of the desiccation of the country. The first time I passed it,
Lopepe was a large pool with a stream flowing out of it to the south;
now it was with difficulty we could get our cattle watered
by digging down in the bottom of a well.
At Mashue - where we found a never-failing supply of pure water
in a sandstone rocky hollow - we left the road to the Bamangwato hills,
and struck away to the north into the Desert. Having watered the cattle
at a well called Lobotani, about N.W. of Bamangwato, we next proceeded
to a real Kalahari fountain, called Serotli. The country around is covered
with bushes and trees of a kind of leguminosae, with lilac flowers.
The soil is soft white sand, very trying to the strength of the oxen,
as the wheels sink into it over the felloes and drag heavily. At Serotli
we found only a few hollows like those made by the buffalo and rhinoceros
when they roll themselves in the mud.
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