SACRED CAVE. 71 



'~ g from Lake Ngami, which he had succeeded in reaching 

 by going right across the Desert from a point a little to the 

 south of Kolobeng. The accounts of the abundance of 

 water-melons were amply confirmed by this energetic 

 traveller; for, having these in vast quantities, his cattle sub- 

 sisted on the fluid contained in them for a period of no less 

 than twenty-one days; and when at last they reached a 

 supply of water they did not seem to care much about it. 

 Coming to the lake from the southeast, he crossed the 

 Teoughe, and went round the northern part of it, and is 

 the only European traveller who had actually seen it all. 

 His estimate of the extent of the lake is higher than that 

 given by Mr. Oswell and myself, or from about ninety to 

 one hundred miles in circumference. 



On the 31st of December, 1852, we reached the town of 

 Sechele, called, from the part of the range on which it is 

 situated, Litubaruba. Near the village there exists a cave 

 named Lepelole; it is an interesting evidence of the former 

 existence of a gushing fountain. No one dared to enter the 

 Lohaheng, or cave, for it was the common belief that it was 

 the habitation of the Deity. As we never had a holiday 

 from January to December, and our Sundays were the pe- 

 riods of oar greatest exertions in teaching, I projected an 

 excursion into the cave on a weekday to see the god of the 

 Bakwains. The old men said that every one who went in 

 remained there forever, adding, " If the teacher is so mad 

 as to kill himself, let him do so alone : we shall not be to 

 blame." The declaration of Sechele, that he would follow 

 where 1 led, produced the greatest consternation. It is 

 curious that in all their pretended dreams or visions of their 

 god he has always a crooked leg, like the Egyptian Thau. 

 Supposing that those who were reported to have perished 

 in this cave had fallen over some precipice, we went well 

 provided with lights, ladder, lines, &c. ; but it turned out to 

 be only an open cave, with an entrance about ten feet square, 

 which contracts into two water-worn branches, ending in 

 round orifices through which the water once flowed. The 



