- While Strongly Impregnated With Pure Salt,
Being On A Flat Part Of The Country, Is Accompanied By No Deposit.
When these deposits occur in a flat tufaceous country like the present,
a large space is devoid of vegetation, on account of the nitrates
dissolving the tufa, and keeping it in a state unfavorable to
the growth of plants.
We found a great number of wells in this tufa. A place
called Matlomagan-yana, or the "Links", is quite a chain
of these never-failing springs. As they occasionally become full
in seasons when no rain falls, and resemble somewhat in this respect
the rivers we have already mentioned, it is probable they receive some water
by percolation from the river system in the country beyond. Among these links
we found many families of Bushmen; and, unlike those on the plains
of the Kalahari, who are generally of short stature and light yellow color,
these were tall, strapping fellows, of dark complexion. Heat alone
does not produce blackness of skin, but heat with moisture seems to insure
the deepest hue.
One of these Bushmen, named Shobo, consented to be our guide
over the waste between these springs and the country of Sebituane.
Shobo gave us no hope of water in less than a month. Providentially, however,
we came sooner than we expected to some supplies of rain-water
in a chain of pools. It is impossible to convey an idea of the dreary scene
on which we entered after leaving this spot: the only vegetation
was a low scrub in deep sand; not a bird or insect enlivened the landscape.
It was, without exception, the most uninviting prospect I ever beheld;
and, to make matters worse, our guide Shobo wandered on the second day.
We coaxed him on at night, but he went to all points of the compass
on the trails of elephants which had been here in the rainy season,
and then would sit down in the path, and in his broken Sichuana say,
"No water, all country only; Shobo sleeps; he breaks down; country only;"
and then coolly curl himself up and go to sleep. The oxen were
terribly fatigued and thirsty; and on the morning of the fourth day,
Shobo, after professing ignorance of every thing, vanished altogether.
We went on in the direction in which we last saw him,
and about eleven o'clock began to see birds; then the trail of a rhinoceros.
At this we unyoked the oxen, and they, apparently knowing the sign,
rushed along to find the water in the River Mahabe, which comes from
the Tamunak'le, and lay to the west of us. The supply of water in the wagons
had been wasted by one of our servants, and by the afternoon only
a small portion remained for the children. This was a bitterly anxious night;
and next morning the less there was of water, the more thirsty
the little rogues became. The idea of their perishing before our eyes
was terrible.
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