FOE THE LAKE KGAMI. 71 



ostrich egg-shells, with a small hole in them. They thrust one 

 end of a small reed down to the water, and applying the lips to 

 the other end, suck up the precious fluid, which passes from the 

 mouth, through another reed or large straw, into the shell. 

 Thus they improvise a pump. When they have filled a num- 

 ber of shells, they are borne far away from the spot to their 

 homes. Nobody finds water by finding the Bakalahari. Its 

 existence is accounted their sacred secret. It is because the 

 tribes outside can find no water that they are secure. 



The Bushman's security is in his poisoned arrows, which he 

 uses with great cordiality when occasion demands it. The 

 Bushmen are manly-looking and brave; the Bakalahari are 

 mean-looking and timid. The weak and the strong, the brave 

 and the timid, have each their reason for chosing this home ; 

 they find their interests identical, so they live together. The 

 Bushmen are hunters ; the others live on roots and fruits, and 

 trade between the Bushmen and the world, with skins and 

 tobacco. 



It was the 1st of June, 1849, when Messrs. Livingstone, 

 Oswell and Murray left Ivolobeng for the Lake Ngami. Mes- 

 sengers had come from the chief of the lake country, whose 

 name was Lechulatebe, inviting Dr. Livingstone to visit him. 

 These messengers had brought wonderful accounts of the ivory 

 to be had there. ■ Their accounts stimulated the Bakwain 

 guides, though they did not lessen the difficulty of the journey, 

 because wagons could not proceed by the route which they came. 

 The party was furnished with oxen and wagons and guides 

 and servants. We can hardly convey an impression of the 

 picture. They slowly skirted along the desert, from pool to 

 pool. There were a score of men, twenty horses, and about 

 eighty oxen. They passed Boatlonama and Lopepe. At Mashue, 

 they left the road which they had followed, and struck out 

 northward, upon the desert. They pressed on to Serotli. It 

 was toilsome progress — the deep sand conspired with the 

 scorching sun. Serotli was only a sucking-place, and there 

 was the delay of several days before the party was refreshed by 

 its slow stream. There was nothing more remarkable than the 

 *im patience of a guide, the herds of wild animals, and dissuasions 

 of Sekomi, who sent messengers expressing the greatest anxiety 



