Chap. VI. ATTEMPTS TO OBTAIN WATER. HI 



partly also to the amount of irrigation carried on along both banks 

 of the stream at the mission station. This latter circumstance 

 would have more weight, were it not coincident with the failure 

 of fountains over a wide extent of country. 



Without at present entering minutely into this feature of the 

 climate, it may be remarked that the Kuruman district presents 

 evidence of this dry southern region having, at no very distant 

 date, been as well watered as the country north of Lake Ngami is 

 now. Ancient river-beds and water-courses abound, and the very 

 eyes of fountains long since dried up may be seen, in which the 

 flow of centuries has worn these orifices from a slit to an oval 

 form, having on their sides the tufa so abundantly deposited 

 from these primitive waters ; and just where the splashings, made 

 when the stream fell on the rock below, may be supposed to have 

 reached and become evaporated, the same phenomenon appears. 

 Many of these failing fountains no longer flow, because the brink 

 over which they ran is now too high, or because the elevation of 

 the western side of the country lifts the land away from the water- 

 supply below ; but let a cutting be made from a lower level than 

 the brink, and through it to a part below the surface of the water, 

 and water flows perennially. Several of these ancient fountains 

 have been resuscitated by the Bechuanas near Kuruman, who 

 occasionally show then feelings of self-esteem by labouring for 

 months at deep cuttings, which, having once begun, they feel 

 bound in honour to persevere in, though told by a missionary that 

 they can never force water to run up hill. 



It is interesting to observe the industry of many Boers in this 

 region, in making long and deep canals from lower levels up to 

 spots destitute of the slightest indication of Avater existing beneath, 

 except a few rushes and a peculiar kind of coarse reddish-coloured 

 grass growing in a hollow, which anciently must have been the 

 eye of a fountain, but is now filled up with soft tufa. In other 

 instances the indication of water below consists of the rushes 

 growing on a long sandy ridge a foot or two in height, instead of 

 in a furrow. A deep transverse cutting made through the higher 

 part of this is rewarded by a stream of running water. The reason 

 why the ground covering this water is higher than the rest of the 

 locality is, that the winds carry quantities of fine dust and sand 

 about the country, and hedges, bushes, and trees cause its deposit. 



