GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. 385 



THE LAKE NGAMI IN SOUTH AFHICA. 



Jameson's Journal, for July, contains a communication on " the 

 discovery of the great Lake Ngami of South Africa," in which is in- 

 corporated a letter from the discoverer, Rev. David Livingston, who, 

 with his friends Messrs. Murray and Os\vell, started on June 1, 1819, 

 from Kolobeng (25 S. laf., and 20 E. long.), to penetrate the 

 desert in search of the lake After a inarch of about 300 miles, 

 the party struck on a magnificent river on ihe 4th of July ; and, fol- 

 lowing along the hanks of this nearly 300 -miles more, reached the 

 Batarama, on the Lake Ngami, in the beginning of August. The Ba- 

 koba, the inhabitants of this region, are a totally distinct race from the 

 Bechuanas, and are much darker than the}'. " We greatly admired," 

 says Mr. Livingston, " the frank, manly bearing of these inland sail- 

 ors ; who paddle along their river and lake in canoes hollowed out of 

 the trunks of immense trees, take fish in nets made of a weed abound- 

 ing on the banks, and kill hippopotami with harpoons attached to 

 ropes." The higher the party ascended the river, the broader it be- 

 came, until it measured upwards of 100 yards in breadth between the 

 wide belt of reeds lining the sides. The water was clear as crystal, 

 soft, and cold. The Zonga is reported to communicate, not only with 

 the lake, but also with other large rivers coming from the north. One 

 remarkable feature of the river is its periodical rise and fall. During 

 the short time the party remained, it rose nearly three feet in height, 

 and this too in the dry season. This rise is evidently not caused by 

 rain, the water being so pure ; and besides, the purity increased as the 

 party ascended towards its junction with Tamunakle, from which river 

 it receives a large supply. "The sharpness of the air caused an 

 amazing keenness of appetite, at an elevation of little more than 2,000 

 feet above the level of the sea (water boiled at 207^), and the reports 

 of the Bakoba, that the water came from a mountainous region, sug- 

 gested the conclusion that the increase cf the water, at the beginning 

 and middle of the dry season, must be derived from melting snow." 

 With the periodical rise of the rivers large shoals of fish descend. 

 The latitude of the east corner of the lake at its junction with the ef- 

 fluence of the Zonga is, by sextant, 20 20' S. The longitude was 

 estimated at 24 E. ; consequently about midway between the eastern 

 a id western coasts. The height above the level of the sea was found 

 by thermometer to be 2,200 feet. The length and breadth were stated 

 by the natives at 70 and 15 miles, and the travellers saw in the former 

 direction an uninterrupted horizon of water. It is stated to bend to- 

 wards the northwest at its farther end, where it receives another river 

 similar to the Zonga. The latter, it must be remembered, runs to the 

 rortheast, and probably does not communicate with the ocean, but 

 r& waters are dissipated by evaporation and absorption. The ban- 

 jan, the palmyra, and the baobab are found on its borders, and indi- 

 cite a better watered country than any previously reached from the 

 (ape. The head of a fish which abounds in the lake, as well as a 

 fl urful fiv, which sting-s the oxen to death, have been sent home, and 



m/ f O 



ii Blared to bs new. 



33 



