62 SALT-PAN — MIEAGE. Chap. III. 



little property, consisting of a few traps made of cords ; but, when 

 I explained that we only wanted water, and would pay her if she 

 led us to it, she consented to conduct us to a spring. It was then 

 late in the afternoon, but she walked briskly before our horses for 

 eight miles, and showed us the water of Nchokotsa. After lead- 

 ing us to the water, she wished to go away home, if indeed she 

 had any — she had fled from a party of her countrymen, and was 

 now living far from all others with her husband — but as it was 

 now dark, we wished her to remain. As she believed herself still 

 a captive, we thought she might slip away by night, so, in order 

 that she should not go away with the impression that we were 

 dishonest, we gave her a piece of meat and a good large bunch 

 of beads ; at the sight of the latter she burst into a merry laugh, 

 and remained without suspicion. 



At Nchokotsa we came upon the first of a great number of salt- 

 pans, covered with an efflorescence of lime, probably the nitrate. 

 A thick belt of mopane-trees (a Bauhinia) hides this salt-pan, 

 which is twenty miles in circumference, entirely from the view 

 of a person coming from the south-east ; and, at the time the pan 

 burst upon our view, the setting sun was casting a beautiful blue 

 haze over the white incrustations, making the whole look exactly 

 like a lake. Oswell threw his hat up in the air at the sight, and 

 shouted out a huzza which made the poor Bushwoman and the 

 Bakwains think him mad. I was a little behind him, and was as 

 completely deceived by it as he ; but as we had agreed to allow 

 each other to behold the lake at the same instant, I felt a little 

 chagrined that he had, unintentionally, got the first glance. We 

 had no idea that the long-looked-for lake was still more than three 

 hundred miles distant. One reason of our mistake was, that the 

 river Zouga was often spoken of by the same name as the lake, 

 viz. Noka ea Batletli (" river of the Batletli "). 



The mii-age on these salinas was marvellous. It is never, I 

 believe, seen in perfection, except over such saline incrustations. 

 Here not a particle of imagination was necessary for realizing the 

 exact picture of large collections of water ; the waves danced along 

 above, and the shadows of the trees were vividly reflected beneath 

 the surface in such an admirable manner, that the loose cattle, 

 whose thirst had not been slaked sufficiently by the very brackish 

 water of Nchokotsa, with the horses, dogs, and even the Hotten- 



