The Conquest of the Desert 



Molopo came down in a great flood, and, being 

 blocked by sand-dunes, it left its old course, 

 flowed westwards instead of southwards, formed 

 a huge lake, and finally dried up altogether at 

 Abiquas Puts, about six miles from the German 

 border. Now, the extraordinary thing to us 

 folk living here is that millions of fish swarmed 

 in the water of Abiquas Pan — mostly barbels. 

 And what we want to know is, where did these 

 fish come from ? Farmers from far and wide 

 came and carted away barrels and barrels of 

 fish, but they could make no impression, and 

 when at last the pan dried up the stench of 

 decaying fish was so terrible that the spot was 

 impassable for a long time. Another interesting 

 fact is that, at Vrouwen's Pan, in the bed of the 

 river, we have found a vast quantity of shells. 

 Not far from here are to be seen many Bushman 

 graves, and the decaying stumps of huge camel- 

 thorn trees — a clear proof of a fine forest that 

 has since been ruthlessly destroyed. The Boers 

 in this part of the Union are trek Boers. Now 

 the first thing that a trek Boer does is to erect 

 a tent, and he sends out his waggon and his boys 

 to cut down the nearest native trees for poles 

 and firewood. And as he never plants, the 

 work of devastation goes on unchecked year 



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