Chap. III. MODE OF DIGGING WELLS. 55 



quickly lapped up by our dogs, had we not driven them away. 

 And yet this was all the apparent supply for some eighty oxen, 

 twenty horses, and about a score of men. Our guide, Ramotobi, 

 who had spent his youth in the Desert, declared that, though 

 appearances were against us, there was plenty of water at hand. 

 We had our misgivings, for the spades were soon produced ; but 

 our guides, despising such new-fangled aid, began in good earnest 

 to scrape out the sand with their hands. The only water we had 

 any promise of for the next seventy miles — that is, for a journey 

 of three days with the waggons — was to be got here. By the 

 aid of both spades and fingers two of the holes were cleared out, 

 so as to form pits six feet deep and about as many broad. Our 

 guides were especially earnest in their injunctions to us not to 

 break through the hard stratum of sand at the bottom, because 

 they knew, if it were broken through, "the water would go 

 away." They are quite correct, for the water seems to he on this 

 flooring of incipient sandstone. The value of the advice was 

 proved in the case of an Englishman whose wits were none of 

 the brightest, who, disregarding it, dug through the sandy stratum 

 in the wells at Mohotluani : — the water immediately flowed away 

 downwards, and the well became useless. When we came to the 

 stratum, we found that the water flowed in on all sides close to 

 the line where the soft sand came into contact with it. Allowing 

 it to collect, we had enough for the horses that evening ; but as 

 there was not sufficient for the oxen, we sent them back to 

 Lobotani, where, after thirsting four full days (ninety-six hours), 

 they got a good supply. The horses were kept by us as neces- 

 sary to procure game for the sustenance of our numerous party. 

 Next morning we found the water had flowed in faster than at 

 first, as it invariably does in these reservoirs, owing to the pas- 

 sages widening by the flow. Large quantities of the sand come 

 into the well with the water, and in the course of a few days the 

 supply, which may be equal to the wants of a few men only, 

 becomes sufficient for oxen as well. In these sucking-places the 

 Bakalahari get their supplies ; and as they are generally in the 

 hollows of ancient river-beds, they are probably the deposits from 

 rains gravitating thither ; in some cases they may be the actual 

 fountains, which, though formerly supplying the river's flow, now 

 no longer rise to the surface. 



