42 THE NGAMI. 



lopes, as the Springbuck and tsessebe, (Acronotus lunata,) are 

 swept down by its rushing waters ; the trees are gradually 

 driven by the winds to the opposite side, and become em- 

 bedded in the mud. 



The water of the lake is perfectly fresh when full, but 

 brackish when low; and that coming down the Tamunak'le 

 we found to be so clear, cold, and soft, the higher we 

 ascended, that the idea of melting snow was suggested to 

 our minds. We found this region, with regard to that from 

 which we had come, to be clearly a hollow, the lowest 

 point being Lake Kumadau ; the point of the ebullition of 

 water, as shown by one of Newman's barometric thermome- 

 ters, was only between 207i° and 206°, giving an elevation 

 of not much more than two thousand feet above the level of 

 the sea. We had descended above two thousand feet in 

 coming to it from Kolobeng. It is the southern and lowest 

 part of the great river-system beyond, in which large tracts 

 of country are inundated annually by tropical rains. 



My chief object in coming to the lake was to visit Sebi- 

 tuane, the great chief of the Makololo, who was reported 

 to live some two hundred miles beyond. We had now 

 come to a half-tribe of the Bamangwato, called • Batauana. 

 Their chief was a young man named Lechulatebe. Sebi- 

 tuane had conquered his father Moremi, and Lechulatebe 

 received part of his education while a captive among the 

 Bayeiye. His uncle, a sensible man, ransomed him, and, 

 having collected a number of families together, abdicated 

 the chieftainship in favor of his nephew. As Lechulatebe 

 had just come into power, he imagined that the proper 

 way of showing his abilities was to act directly contrary 

 to every thing that his uncle advised. When we came, the 

 uncle recommended him to treat us handsomely : therefore 

 the hopeful youth presented us with a goat only. It ought 

 to have been an ox. So I proposed to my companions to 

 loose the animal and let him go, as a hint to his master. 

 They, however, did not wish to insult him. I, being more 

 of a native, and familiar with their customs, knew that 



