THE WORLD*S WONDERS. 295 



A REMARKABLE SALT BASIN. 



AT Nchokotsa, a little more than half-way from Mabotsa to 

 Ngami, the party came upon a great number of salt basins, 

 covered with an efflorescence of lime. This salt basin, which is 

 twenty miles in circumference, is obscured, however, in approach- 

 ing from the southeast, by a thick belt of mopane trees ; and, at 

 the time the basin burst upon their view, the setting sun was 

 casting a beautiful blue haze over the wide incrustations, making 

 the whole look exactly like a lake. Here not a particle of imagi- 

 nation was necessary to enable them to believe that they were 

 gazing upon a large body of water; the waves seemed to dance 

 along the shore, and the shadows of the trees were vividly reflected 

 beneath the surface in such an admirable manner that the loose 

 cattle and the horses, dogs, and even the Hottentots, ran off 

 toward the deceitful lake. A herd of zebras in the mirage looked 

 so exactly like elephants that preparations were made to pursue 

 them, but a break in the haze dispelled the illusion. 



DISCOVERY OF LAKE NGAMI. 



ON August 1, 1849, exactly two months after leaving Mabotsa, 

 the party came in sight of Lake Ngami, they being the first white 

 men that had ever gazed upon its placid bosom. The lake is not 

 very large, perhaps fifty miles in circumference, but it is the 

 basin for many rivers, which pour their waters into it during the 

 wet season until it inundates an immense district of country. 

 One of the principal rivers which flow into it from the south is 

 the Zouga, a considerable stream, but remarkable chiefly for its 

 fish and the prodigious amount of game that lines its shores. 

 Elephants and a new species of antelope, called leche, were 

 particularly numerous, but the former are inferior in size to 

 those found further south. 



The natives of this locality, called Bakurutse, who are gener- 

 ally friendly, live chiefly on fish, which they spear, and also catch 

 in nets that are woven exactly like fish-nets in America ; and 

 with these they catch such great quantities that they do not 

 pretend to consume them all. 



