566 ANCIENT LAKES. 



very beautiful, and was once well peopled with Batoka, who pos- 

 sessed enormous herds of cattle. When Sebituane came in for- 

 mer times, with his small but warlike party of Makololo, to this 

 spot, a general rising took place of the Batoka through the whole 

 country, in order to " eat him up ;" but his usual success followed 

 him, and, dispersing them, the Makololo obtained so many cattle 

 that they could not take any note of the herds of sheep and goats. 

 The tsetse has been brought by buffaloes into some districts where 

 formerly cattle abounded. This obliged us to travel the first 

 few stages by night. We could not well detect the nature of the 

 country in the dim moonlight ; the path, however, seemed to lead 

 along the high bank of what may have been the ancient bed of 

 the Zambesi before the fissure was made. The Lekone now winds 

 in it in an opposite direction to that in which the ancient river 

 must have flowed. 



Both the Lekone and Unguesi flow back toward the centre of 

 the country, and in an opposite direction to that of the main 

 stream. It was plain, then, that we were ascending the farther 

 we went eastward. The level of the lower portion of the Lekone 

 is about two hundred feet above that of the Zambesi at the falls, 

 and considerably more than the altitude of Linyanti ; consequent- 

 ly, when the river flowed along this ancient bed instead of through 

 the rent, the whole country between this and the ridge beyond 

 Libebe westward, Lake Ngami and the Zouga southward, and 

 eastward beyond Nchokotsa, was one large fresh-water lake. 

 There is abundant evidence of the existence and extent of this 

 vast lake in the longitudes indicated, and stretching from 17° 

 to 21° south latitude. The whole of this space is paved with a 

 bed of tufa, more or less soft, according as it is covered with soil, 

 or left exposed to atmospheric influences. Wherever ant-eat- 

 ers make deep holes in this ancient bottom, fresh-water shells 

 are thrown out, identical with those now existing in the Lake 

 Ngami and the Zambesi. The Barotse valley was another lake 

 of a similar nature ; and one existed beyond Masiko, and a 

 fourth near the Orange Eiver. The whole of these lakes were 

 let out by means of cracks or fissures made in the subtending 

 sides by the upheaval of the country. The fissure made at the 

 Victoria Falls let out the water of this great valley, and left* a 

 small patch in what was probably its deepest portion, and is 



