

DESERT ANIMALS AND WATER. 317 



for concluding* this branch of our subject by a further 

 quotation from the pen of Mr. Bryden. 



" Although in the last few years " (he says) " travellers and 

 hunters have crossed the Kalahari, and wandered hither and 

 thither, very little is known of the country, even in adjacent 

 South Africa. The spaces are so immense, the surface waters 

 so scant, and the danger of death by thirst and starvation 

 so imminent : that extreme caution has to be exercised. 

 Let no man, unless he wishes to leave his bones in some 

 dreary waste, or lone forest, attempt to exploit the Kalahari, 

 without the best of guides, and the advice and good offices 

 of local chiefs." * 



In most of these dry regions, where the waters be- 

 come exhausted during the period of the droughts, 

 there are generally remote pools and fountains among 

 the hills where permanent water exists, which are 

 known only to the native residents, who have discov- 

 ered them in the course of their wanderings, by watch- 

 ing the movements of game animals and birds, which 

 are known to require to drink daily; wiiere these crea- 

 tures are to be met with, it may of course be taken 

 as a certain indication that the means of quenching 

 their thirst are to be found within comparatively mod- 

 erate distances. Water can also frequently be discov- 

 ered by following the recent trails or paths of such 

 animals, which will frequently lead the traveller directly 

 to springs and other sources of water-supply, which 

 would otherwise certainly be overlooked. 



It requires an experienced eye and a good judge, 

 however, to tell the exact age of the tracks; for it is 

 obvious that an old trail may lead the traveller on a 

 bootless errand to water pools which have already 



* Gun and Camera in South Africa^ by H. A. Brvden, 1893, 

 p. 144. 



