10 IDEAS REGARDING COMETS. Chap. I. 



but now quite dry. When these preparations were well advanced, 

 I went northwards to visit the Bakaa and Bamangw&to, and the 

 Makalaka, living between 22° and 23° south lat. The Bakaa 

 mountains had been visited before by a trader, who, with Ins 

 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, winch 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 then 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 (trousers) ; 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 pedes- 

 trian powers. 



Keturning 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 towards 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 fl is em- 

 ployed to denote this sound, and Ngami is spelt nanii — naka means a tusk, 

 fiaka a doctor. Every vowel is sounded in all native words, and the em- 

 phasis in pronunciation is put upon the penultimate. 



