In A Corner Of One Of These
There Appeared Water, Which Would Have Been Quickly Lapped Up By Our Dogs,
Had We Not Driven Them Away.
And yet this was all the apparent supply
for some eighty oxen, twenty horses, and about a score of
Men.
Our guide, Ramotobi, who had spent his youth in the Desert, declared that,
though appearances were against us, there was plenty of water at hand.
We had our misgivings, for the spades were soon produced;
but our guides, despising such new-fangled aid, began in good earnest
to scrape out the sand with their hands. The only water we had any promise of
for the next seventy miles - that is, for a journey of three days
with the wagons - was to be got here. By the aid of both spades and fingers
two of the holes were cleared out, so as to form pits
six feet deep and about as many broad. Our guides were especially earnest
in their injunctions to us not to break through the hard stratum of sand
at the bottom, because they knew, if it were broken through,
"the water would go away." They are quite correct, for the water seems to lie
on this flooring of incipient sandstone. The value of the advice was proved
in the case of an Englishman whose wits were none of the brightest, who,
disregarding it, dug through the sandy stratum in the wells at Mohotluani:
the water immediately flowed away downward, and the well became useless.
When we came to the stratum, we found that the water flowed in on all sides
close to the line where the soft sand came in contact with it.
Allowing it to collect, we had enough for the horses that evening;
but as there was not sufficient for the oxen, we sent them back to Lobotani,
where, after thirsting four full days (ninety-six hours),
they got a good supply. The horses were kept by us as necessary
to procure game for the sustenance of our numerous party.
Next morning we found the water had flowed in faster than at first,
as it invariably does in these reservoirs, owing to the passages
widening by the flow. Large quantities of the sand come into the well
with the water, and in the course of a few days the supply, which may be equal
to the wants of a few men only, becomes sufficient for oxen as well.
In these sucking-places the Bakalahari get their supplies;
and as they are generally in the hollows of ancient river-beds,
they are probably the deposits from rains gravitating thither;
in some cases they may be the actual fountains, which, though formerly
supplying the river's flow, now no longer rise to the surface.
Here, though the water was perfectly inaccessible to elands,
large numbers of these fine animals fed around us; and, when killed,
they were not only in good condition, but their stomachs actually contained
considerable quantities of water.
I examined carefully the whole alimentary canal, in order to see
if there were any peculiarity which might account for the fact
that this animal can subsist for months together without drinking,
but found nothing. Other animals, such as the duiker (`Cephalopus mergens')
or puti (of the Bechuanas), the steinbuck (`Tragulus rupestris')
or puruhuru, the gemsbuck (`Oryx capensis') or kukama,
and the porcupine (`Hystrix cristata'), are all able to subsist without water
for many months at a time by living on bulbs and tubers containing moisture.
They have sharp-pointed hoofs well adapted for digging,
and there is little difficulty in comprehending their mode of subsistence.
Some animals, on the other hand, are never seen but in the vicinity of water.
The presence of the rhinoceros, of the buffalo and gnu (`Catoblepas gnu'),
of the giraffe, the zebra, and pallah (`Antilope melampus'), is always
a certain indication of water being within a distance of seven or eight miles;
but one may see hundreds of elands (`Boselaphus oreas'),
gemsbuck, the tolo or koodoo (`Strepsiceros capensis'),
also springbucks (`Gazella euchore') and ostriches, without being
warranted thereby in inferring the presence of water
within thirty or forty miles. Indeed, the sleek, fat condition of the eland
in such circumstances would not remove the apprehension of perishing by thirst
from the mind of even a native. I believe, however, that these animals
can subsist only where there is some moisture in the vegetation
on which they feed; for in one year of unusual drought we saw
herds of elands and flocks of ostriches crowding to the Zouga from the Desert,
and very many of the latter were killed in pitfalls on the banks.
As long as there is any sap in the pasturage they seldom need water.
But should a traveler see the "spoor" of a rhinoceros, or buffalo, or zebra,
he would at once follow it up, well assured that before he had gone many miles
he would certainly reach water.
In the evening of our second day at Serotli, a hyaena, appearing suddenly
among the grass, succeeded in raising a panic among our cattle.
This false mode of attack is the plan which this cowardly animal
always adopts. His courage resembles closely that of a turkey-cock.
He will bite, if an animal is running away; but if the animal stand still,
so does he. Seventeen of our draught oxen ran away, and in their flight
went right into the hands of Sekomi, whom, from his being unfriendly
to our success, we had no particular wish to see. Cattle-stealing,
such as in the circumstances might have occurred in Caffraria,
is here unknown; so Sekomi sent back our oxen, and a message
strongly dissuading us against attempting the Desert.
"Where are you going? You will be killed by the sun and thirst,
and then all the white men will blame me for not saving you."
This was backed by a private message from his mother. "Why do you pass me?
I always made the people collect to hear the word that you have got.
What guilt have I, that you pass without looking at me?" We replied
by assuring the messengers that the white men would attribute our deaths
to our own stupidity and "hard-headedness" (tlogo, e thata),
"as we did not intend to allow our companions and guides to return
till they had put us into our graves." We sent a handsome present to Sekomi,
and a promise that, if he allowed the Bakalahari to keep the wells
open for us, we would repeat the gift on our return.
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