SPRINGBOKS ON A SALT-PAN 103 



heat, and the smooth white saline tracts, unite to form 

 the most wonderful mirages that one can find in 

 Africa. Shining waters, lovely islets, groves of trees 

 and bush — all these appear to the human eye with 

 every circumstance of truth and perfection. Living- 

 stone himself and his fellow-discoverers of Lake 

 Ngami were completely deceived by the vast salt-pan 

 of N'Chukutsa, which they stumbled upon after cross- 

 ing the waterless Kalahari. One emerges suddenly 

 upon N'Chukutsa, which is some twenty miles round, 

 after a long weary trek through dense Mopani forest. 

 It was evening, and the setting sun threw a wonderful 

 mirage upon the pan. It looked exactly like a lake. 

 Oswell threw his hat in the air and gave a great cry ; 

 Livingstone and Murray came hurrying up ; all 

 thought they had found Ngami, the fabulous water 

 of which they were in search. Alas ! Lake Ngami 

 lay still a weary 250 miles and more in front of them, 

 and they were not to set eyes upon it for many days. 

 We first rode across N'Chukutsa — Chukutsa it is 

 now-a-days more commonly called — in the heat of 

 noonday. Its mirage was wonderful. The water, 

 the islands, the trees, the foliage, were so perfect that 

 one might swear Nature's deception could go no 

 further. But the weary ride over the great, dry, 

 burning pan; the smarting dazzle cast up by its 

 smooth, white floor; the suffocating heat, and the 

 labour of riding and leading jaded horses and pack- 



