Chap. XXYI. ANCIENT LAKES. 527 



very beautiful, and was once well peopled with Batoka, who 

 possessed enormous herds of cattle. When Sebituane came in 

 former times, with his small but warlike party of Makololo, to this 

 spot, a general rising took place of the Batoka through the whole 

 country, in order to " eat him up ;" but his usual success fol- 

 lowed him, and, dispersing them, the Makololo obtained so many 

 cattle, that they could not take any note of the herds of sheep 

 and goats. The tsetse has been brought by buffaloes into some 

 districts where formerly cattle abounded. This obliged us to 

 travel the first few stages by night. We could not well detect 

 the nature of the country in the dim moonlight ; the path, however, 

 seemed to lead along the high bank of what may have been the 

 ancient bed of the Zambesi, before the fissure was made. The 

 Lekone now winds in it, in an opposite direction to that hi which 

 the ancient river must have flowed. 



Both the Lekone and Unguesi flow back towards the centre 

 of the country, and in an opposite direction to that of the 

 main stream. It was plain, then, that we were ascending, the 

 further we went eastward. The level of the lower portion of the 

 Lekone is about 200 feet above that of the Zambesi at the 

 falls, and considerably more than the altitude of Linyanti ; con- 

 sequently, when the river flowed along this ancient bed, instead 

 of through the rent, the whole country between tins, and the 

 ridge beyond Libebe westwards ; Lake Ngami and the Zouga 

 southwards ; and eastwards beyond Nchokotsa, was one large 

 fresh-water lake. There is abundant evidence of the exist- 

 ence and extent of this vast lake in the longitudes indicated, 

 and stretclnns from 17° to 21° S. latitude. The whole of tins 

 space is paved with a bed of tufa, more or less soft, according as 

 it is covered with soil, or left exposed to atmospheric influences. 

 Wherever ant-eaters make deep holes in this ancient bottom, 

 fresh-water shells are thrown out, identical with those now 

 existing, in the Lake Ngami and the Zambesi. The Barotse 

 valley was another lake of a similar nature, and one existed be- 

 yond Masiko, and a fourth near the Orange Eiver. The whole 

 of these lakes were let out by means of cracks or fissures made 

 in the subtending sides, by the upheaval of the country. The 

 fissure made at the Victoria Falls let out the water of this great 

 valley, and left a small patch in what was probably its deepest 



