528 TRADITIONS. Chap. XXVI. 



portion, and is now called Lake Ngami. The Falls of Gonye 

 furnished an outlet to the lake of the Barotse valley, and so of 

 the other great lakes of remote times. The Congo also finds its 

 way to the sea through a narrow fissure, and so does the Orange 

 River in the west ; while other rents made in the eastern ridge, 

 as the Victoria Falls and those to the east of Tanganyenka, allowed 

 the central waters to drain eastward. All the African lakes 

 hitherto discovered are shallow, in consequence of being the mere 

 residua of very much larger ancient bodies of water. There can 

 be no doubt that this continent was, in former times, very much 

 more copiously supplied with water than at present, but a natural 

 process of drainage has been going on for ages. Deep fissures 

 are made, probably by the elevation of the land, proofs of winch 

 are seen in modern shells embedded in marly tufa, all round 

 the coast-line. Whether tlus process of desiccation is as rapid 

 throughout the continent, as in a letter to the late Dean Buck- 

 land, in 1843, I showed to have been the case in the Bechuana 

 country, it is not for me to say ; but though there is a slight 

 tradition of the waters having burst through the low hills south 

 of the Barotse, there is none of a sudden upheaval accom- 

 panied by an earthquake. The formation of the crack of Mo- 

 sioatunya is perhaps too ancient for that; yet, although in- 

 formation of any remarkable event is often transmitted in the 

 native names, and they even retain a tradition winch looks 

 like the story of Solomon and the harlots, there is not a name 

 like Tom Earthquake, or Sam Shake-the-ground, in the whole 

 country. They have a tradition which may refer to the build- 

 ing of the Tower of Babel, but it ends in the bold builders 

 getting their crowns cracked by the fall of the scaffolding ; and 

 that they came out of a cave called " Loey " (Noe ?), in company 

 with the beasts, and all point to it in one direction, viz. the 

 N.N.E. Loey, too, is an exception in the language, as they use 

 masculine instead of neuter pronouns to it. 



If we take a glance back at the great valley, the form the 

 rivers have taken imparts the idea of a lake slowly drained out, 

 for they have cut out for themselves beds exactly like what we 

 may see, in the soft mud of a shallow pool of rain-water, when 

 that is let off by a furrow. This idea would probably not strike 

 a person on coming first into the country, but more extensive 



