158 THE BUSHMEN LARGE LAKE. 



only about five days' journey hence, and at the northern ex- 

 tremity of Omuvereoom. 



Elephants occasionally visited this neighborhood, and even 

 breed near a fountain somewhat farther to the northward. 



After having spent a couple of days very pleasantly at Ot- 

 jironjuba fountain, we for a short time followed the course 

 of the rivulet which has its rise there ; but it was soon lost 

 in a marsh. 



On the second day of our departure we came, unobserved, 

 upon a few Bushmen, engaged in digging for wild roots, and 

 succeeded in capturing a man and woman, whom, with some 

 difficulty, we persuaded to show us the water. The dialect 

 of these people was so different to any we had yet heard, 

 that, notwithstanding our two excellent interpreters, we could 

 with difficulty understand them. However, by a good deal 

 of cross-questioning, we managed to make out that they had 

 both been to Omanbonde, which they called Saresab ; that 

 the " water was as large as the sky," and that hippopotami 

 existed there. The man, moreover, said that he would con- 

 duct us to the lake; but this was only a ruse, for in the 

 course of the night both he and his wife absconded. 



Our doubts and anxiety increased as we approached nearer 

 and nearer the inland sea, and all our thoughts were concen- 

 trated in the single idea of the lake. The Bushman's story 

 of the water being " as large as the sky" wrought greatly 

 on our expectation. 



" Well, Andersson, what should you suppose this lake's 

 greatest length to be, ehf ' said Galton. " Surely it can not 

 cover less than fifteen miles anyhow ; and as for its breadth, 

 it is, no doubt, very considerable, for the Hottentots declare 

 that if you look at a man from the opposite shore he appears 

 no bigger than a crow." 



It would have been well for us had we been less sanguine. 



As we journeyed on a course somewhat parallel Avith Omu- 

 vereoom, we fell in with a sort of vley river — if river it could 



