192 DESERT OF THE KALIHARI. 



hari has been called a desert, says Livingstone,* because it contains 

 no running water, and very little in wells. Far from being destitute 

 of vegetation, it is covered with grass and creeping plants, and there 

 are large patches of bushes, and even trees. It is remarkably flat ; 

 and prodigious herds of antelopes roam over its trackless plains. 

 The soil is composed in general of a fine soft sand, lightly coloured 

 that is, of a nearly pure silica. In the ancient beds of dried-up 

 rivers lie immense patches of alluvial soil, which, hardened by the 

 sun, form great reservoirs, retaining the rain-water for several months 

 of the year. The quantity of grass flourishing in this region is remark- 

 able. It grows generally in thick tufts, occasionally intermingled with 

 spaces where the earth is naked or closely overgrown with creeping 

 plants. These, deeply rooted in the soil, suffer but little from the 

 effects of the excessive heat. Most of them have tubercular roots, 

 and are so organized as to furnish both food and liquid during the 

 long droughts an epoch when one vainly seeks elsewhere anything 

 which can appease one's hunger or one's thirst. 



The rich vegetation of the Kalihari is due to its geological consti- 

 tution. It consists of a great valley, or rather of a vast basin, whoso 

 bottom is formed of a diluvial earth, and which is encircled by a belt 

 of rocks, cloven at several places. It follows that where the rain is 

 abundant, the slope of the hills directs it towards the centre of the 

 basin, and this rain filters and deposits itself beneath the surface of 

 the soil. And it appears to be a proof of this statement, that on dig- 

 ging in the sand cisterns are formed, or " sucking-places," which are 

 filled with water supplied by subterraneous conduits. 



This so-called Desert is not without its utility. Not only does it 

 nourish innumerable multitudes of animals of every kind, but it has 

 become the asylum of fugitive tribes. Here at first the Bakalabaris 

 found a refuge ; and then, in their turn, other peoples of the Bechuana, 

 whose territories had been invaded by the Kaffirs. 



The Kalihari has its mirage and its sirocco. During the excessive 

 drought which precedes the rainy season, a burning wind traverses 

 * Dr. Livingstone, " Missionary Researches in Sonth Africa." 



