200 OTCHIKOTO. [chap. yii. 



in a flower-pot : those that are open make dangerous 

 pitfalls. The effect is very curious. Mr. Oswell tells me 

 that by Lake 'Ngami he has met with the same things. 



May 25th. — For the third time we left Otchikango, 

 and travelled all day, till four p.m., passing over some 

 very rugged ground and dense thorns, such as no 

 waggon could get across : it was a pass over a low 

 chain of hills. The encampments at night were very 

 pretty. There were fires in all directions. Every- 

 body was in the best of spirits. The Ovampo sang 

 their manly chorusses with charming effect. We had 

 no water, but were to reach a wonderful place, 

 Otchikoto, on the morrow, at eleven, — which we did. 



May 2Qth. — Without the least warning we came sud- 

 denly upon that remarkable tarn, Otchikoto. It is a deep 

 bucket-shaped hole, exactly Hke Orujo, but far larger, 

 for it is 400 feet across : deep down below us lay a 

 placid sheet of water, which I plumbed, leaning over 

 from the cliff above, to the enormous depth of 180 

 feet, the same depth within five or six feet at four 

 different points of its cii'cumference. The water 

 could be reached by a couple of broken foot-paths, to 

 the top of one of which the oxen were driven to drink 

 out of a trough, and a line of men handed upbambooses 

 of water from one to another to fill it. There were 

 small fish in the water; it is curious how they got 

 there. I was told that fish were also to be found in 

 the fountain-head of Otjironjuba, but I did not see 

 them. There were infinite superstitions about 

 Otchikoto, the chief of which was, that no living thing 

 which ever got into it could come out again. How- 



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