54 SEROTLI. Chap. III. 



is perfectly flat, but covered with open forest and bush, with 

 abundance of grass ; the trees generally are a land of acacia 

 called " Monato," which appears a little to the south of this region, 

 and is common as far as Angola. A large caterpillar, called 

 "Nato," feeds by night on the leaves of these trees, and comes 

 down by day to bury itself at the root in the sand, in order to 

 escape the piercing rays of the sun. The people dig for it there, 

 and are fond of it when roasted, on account of its pleasant vege- 

 table taste. When about to pass into the chrysalis state it buries 

 itself in the soil, and is sometimes sought for as food even then. 

 If left undisturbed, it comes forth as a beautiful butterfly : the 

 transmutation was sometimes employed by me with good effect, 

 when speaking with the natives, as an illustration of our own 

 great change and resurrection. 



The soil is sandy, and there are here and there indications 

 that at spots which now afford no water whatever there were 

 formerly wells and cattle stations. 



Boatlanama, our next station, is a lovely spot in the otherwise 

 dry region. The wells from which we had to lift out the water 

 for our cattle are deep, but they were well filled. A few villages 

 of Bakalahari were found near them, and great numbers of 

 pallahs, springbucks, guinea-fowl, and small monkeys. 



Lopepe came next. This place afforded another proof of the 

 desiccation of the country. The first time I passed it, Lopepe 

 was a large pool with a stream flowing out of it to the south ; 

 now it was with difficulty we could get our cattle watered, by 

 digging down in the bottom of a well. 



At Mashiie — where we found a never-failing supply of pure 

 water in a sandstone rocky hollow — we left the road to the 

 Bamangwato hills, and struck away to the north into the Desert. 

 Having watered the cattle at a well called Lobotani, about N.W. 

 of Bamangwato, we next proceeded to a real Kalahari fountain, 

 called Serotli. The country around is covered with bushes and 

 trees of a kind of leguminosae, with lilac flowers. The soil is 

 soft white sand, very trying to the strength of the oxen, as the 

 wheels sink into it over the felloes and drag heavily. At Serotli 

 we found only a few hollows like those made by the buffalo and 

 rliinoceros when they roll themselves in the mud. In a corner 

 of one of these there appeared water, Avhich would have been 



