GIRAFFES, AND HOW TO CAPTURE THEM 143 



Africa, between the coast and the Nyanza Lakes, 

 giraffes are still fairly plentiful ; but here again diffi- 

 culties with fierce tribes, such as the Masai and others, 

 prevent anything like a free export in wild animals. 



At the present moment the most accessible country 

 for the capture and exportation of young giraffes is 

 the North Kalahari region, bordering the southern 

 bank of the Lake (or Botletli) river, Ngamiland. 

 This region, which still supports large numbers of 

 these gigantic creatures, has always been famous for 

 giraffes. Noka Ea Botletli, the Bechuana name for 

 Lake Ngami and the Botletli river which joins it, 

 means simply, ''The water of the giraffe." The 

 Bushman name for the lake (of still more ancient 

 origin) is N'abe (pronounced Ng'habe) and not 

 Ngami. Ng'habe, too, as I have shown, means "the 

 giraffe." I have made inquiries on the spot, and I 

 have little doubt that both these names were given 

 in consequence of the extraordinary quantities of 

 giraffes anciently found in this vicinity.^ 



Over much of this country Khama, chief of the 

 Bamangwato, a staunch and constant friend and ally 



1 There is an ingenious suggestion in Chapman's Travels, 

 published in the sixties, that Ng'liabe, the Bushman name for 

 the giraffe, took its derivation from Ng'habba, " to rock," from 

 the peculiar gait of this animal. Chapman goes on to state 

 that the Bushmen compared the rocking or tossing waters of 

 Lake Ngami, when disturbed, with the motion of the giraffe, 

 and therefore furnished it with the same name — Ng'habe. 



