204 EXPEDITION INTO 



iiing"s had been always remarkably cool j and even during* 

 the middle of the day the rang-e of the thermometer in the 

 wag-g'ons had rarely exceeded 85". Before turning- to the 

 southward, we crossed the Limpopo, and made an excursion 

 of forty miles to the north-eastward, on horseback, with a 

 desig-n of determining" the course assumed by this interesting* 

 feature in the g-eography of Southern Africa. So far as it 

 was possible to comprehend the descriptions g-iven by 

 savag'es, which are not the clearest in the world, this 

 river, after being* joined by another, called the Clabatz, or 

 Balapatse, which rises in the Mural mountains, turns 

 suddenly throug-h that chain, and flows into the unexplored 

 country of the Babariri, towards Delag*oa, distant probably 

 about tlu-ee hundred and fifty miles. This account is in a 

 g"reat measure confirmed by information g-iven me by David 

 Hume, an exceeding-ly clear-headed, observing* traveller, who 

 has made several enterprising* journe3^s into the interior, in 

 quest of the g-old-mines said to exist in the country of the 

 Bakalaka. By whomsoever it may eventually be traced, 

 therefore, the Limpopo will in all probability be found 

 identical with the Manice, the river which was surveyed by 

 Captain Owen, from its embouchure in Delag-oa Bay, as far 

 as latitude 25° 21' south, and long*itude 32° 52' east. 



For the satisfaction of those of m}^ readers who take an 

 interest in the g*eogTaphy of the African quarter of the g*lobe, 

 it may be proper here to state, that with a view of ascer- 

 taining* our position on the map, I adopted the very simple, 

 but excellent method pursued by Burchell, during* his 

 travels. The exact distance passed over each day was calcu- 

 lated by a table, computed from the circumference of the 

 larger wag*g*on-wheel, multij)hed by the number of revolu- 

 tions performed per minute j the time that the vehicle was 

 actually in motion being* carefully noted by an inside pas- 

 senger, as well as the course by compass. This plan with 



