THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 99 



use, crosses a corner of the desert, and the sand 

 is very heavy, but water is found independently 

 of rain at two places Klobala and Tlacani 

 which, however, are about one hundred and twenty 

 miles apart, and this distance must be covered 

 without a chance of obtaining a drop of water for 

 the labouring draught oxen, whose sufferings from 

 thirst are intensified by the necessity of keeping 

 them going night and day over this stretch of 

 desert. This struggle involves great labour for 

 man and beast, to say nothing of the anxiety 

 and want of sleep for the four days and nights 

 consumed on the waterless road. As a matter of 

 fact, oxen seldom die of thirst if properly driven, 

 on this route, and having reached the Tlacani 

 Spring, the Botletle is then only thirty miles off, 

 and all troubles with regard to water are over for 

 the traveller bound for the Lake, as the track 

 thence simply skirts the banks of the full river 

 for the whole distance, except at spots where curves 

 are avoided to shorten the distance. After striking 

 the Botletle, at a kraal called Pompey, it takes 

 about sixteen days, without stoppages, to reach 

 Lake N'Ghaami, and even now there is no dearth 

 of giraffe and smaller game, although the vast 



