254 SOUTH AFRICA. 



to say that in N'Gaamiland a totally different state 

 of things will prevail at least for a very long time. 



Be this as it may, let us hope the " trekkers " will 

 have better luck than those who preceded them 

 some years ago, and of whose sufferings from sick- 

 ness, hunger, and thirst I was an eyewitness during 

 the retreat of the survivors from their hoped-for 

 Canaan. 



Personally, I think the immense district I am 

 alluding to is unfit for settlement for whites, as 

 the more fertile parts, such as the Botletle Valley 

 and near the lake, are eminently malarial, a very 

 fatal form of fever prevailing during the greater 

 part of the year, and the healthier parts are but 

 scantily watered by little springs, with immense 

 intervals between them as a rule. 



From an African point of view, the pastoral 

 capabilities of the country now in question are 

 decidedly better than the usual average in South 

 Africa, and all species of stock flourish, with the 

 exception of horses and mules, which die like 

 flies during and after the rains, and if the Boer 

 immigrants want to ride they will have to content 

 themselves on the backs of trained oxen, or, in the 

 case of light-weights, on the dorsal ridge of asinine 

 mounts. 



