10 IDEAS REGARDING COMETS. 



but now quite dry. When these preparations were well ad- 

 vanced, I went northward to visit the Bakaa and Bamangwato, 

 and the Makalaka, living between 22° and 23° south latitude. 

 The Bakaa Mountains had Ibeen visited before by a trader, who, 

 with his people, all perished from fever. In going round the 

 northern part of these basaltic hills near Letloche I was only ten 

 days distant from the lower part of the Zouga, which passed by 

 the same name as Lake Ngami ;* and I might then (in 1842) 

 have discovered that lake, had discovery alone been my object. 

 Most part of this journey beyond Shokuane was performed on 

 foot, in consequence of the draught oxen having become sick. 

 Some of my companions who had recently joined us, and did not 

 know that I understood a little of their speech, were overheard by 

 me discussing my appearance and powers : " He is not strong ; 

 he is quite slim, and only appears stout because he puts himself 

 into those bags (trowsers) ; he will soon knock up."' This caused 

 my Highland blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of 

 keeping them all at the top of their speed for days together, and 

 until I heard them expressing proper opinions of my pedestrian 

 powers. 



Returning to Kuruman, in order to bring my luggage to our 

 proposed settlement, I was followed by the news that the tribe of 

 Bakwains, who had shown themselves so friendly toward me, had 

 been driven from Lepelole by the Barolongs, so that my prospects 

 for the time of forming a settlement there were at an end. One 

 of those periodical outbreaks of war, which seem to have occurred 

 from time immemorial, for the possession of cattle, had burst forth 

 in the land, and had so changed the relations of the tribes to each 

 other, that I was obliged to set out anew to look for a suitable 

 locality for a mission station. 



In going north again, a comet blazed on our sight, exciting 

 the wonder of every tribe we visited. That of 1816 had been 

 followed by an irruption of the Matebele, the most cruel enemies 



* Several words in the African languages begin with the ringing sound heard in 

 the end of the word " coming." If the reader puts an i to the beginning of the 

 name of the lake, as Ingami, and then sounds the i as little as possible, he will 

 have the correct pronunciation. The Spanish n is employed to denote this sound, 

 and Ngami is spelt nami — naka means a tusk, naka a doctor. Every vowel is 

 sounded in all native words, and the emphasis in pronunciation is put upon the pe- 

 nultimate. 



