TRADITIONS. 5(37 



now called Lake Ngami. The Falls of Gonye furnished an out- 

 let to the lake of the Barotse valley, and so of the other great 

 lakes of remote times. The Congo also finds its way to the sea 

 through a narrow fissure, and so does the Orange River in the 

 west ; while other rents made in the eastern ridge, as the Victoria 

 Falls and those to the east of Tanganyenka, allowed the central 

 waters to drain eastward. All the African lakes hitherto discov- 

 ered are shallow, in consequence of being the mere residua of 

 very much larger ancient bodies of water. There can be no doubt 

 that this continent was, in former times, very much more copi- 

 ously supplied with water than at present, but a natural process 

 of drainage has been going on for ages. Deep fissures are made, 

 probably by the elevation of the land, proofs of which are seen in 

 modern shells imbedded in marly tufa all round the coast-line. 

 Whether this process of desiccation is as rapid throughout the 

 continent as, in a letter to the late Dean Buckland, in 1843, I 

 showed to have been the case in the Bechuana country, it is not 

 for me to say ; but, though there is a slight tradition of the wa- 

 ters having burst through the low hills south of the Barotse, 

 there is none of a sudden upheaval accompanied by an earth- 

 quake. The formation of the crack of Mosioatunya is perhaps 

 too ancient for that ; yet, although information of any remark- 

 able event is often transmitted in the native names, and they 

 even retain a tradition which looks like the story of Solomon 

 and the harlots, there is not a name like Tom Earthquake or 

 Sam Shake-the-ground in the whole country. They have a tra- 

 dition which may refer to the building of the Tower of Babel, 

 but it ends in the bold builders getting their crowns cracked 

 by the fall of the scaffolding ; and that they came out of a cave 

 called " Loey" (Noe ?) in company with the beasts, and all point 

 to it in one direction, viz., the N.N.E. Loey, too, is an excep- 

 tion in the language, as they use masculine instead of neuter pro- 

 nouns to it. 



If we take a glance back at the great valley, the form the 

 rivers have taken imparts the idea of a lake slowly drained out, 

 for they have cut out for themselves beds exactly like what we 

 may see in the soft mud of a shallow pool of rain-water, when 

 that is let off by a furrow. This idea would probably not strike 

 a person on coming first into the country, but more extensive 



