38 DEPARTURE FROM KOLOBENG. Chap III 



men, who could have told us ancient stories, died in these 

 flights. An intelligent Mokwain informed me that a party of 

 his tribe came in a state of burning thirst to a village of 

 Bushmen and demanded water. The Bushmen replied that 

 they never drank any. Their visitors watched them, to no 

 purpose night and day. The Bakwains at last were compelled 

 to exclaim, "Yak! yak! these are not men; let us go." 

 Probably the Bushmen had contrived to draw secretly upon a 

 store which was hidden under ground. 



CHAPTER III. 



Crossing the Desert. — The Zouga. — Discovery of Lake Ngami. — 

 Keturn to Kolobeng. 



Such was the Desert which we were now preparing to cross, — 

 a region formerly terrible to the Bechuanas from the numbers 

 of serpents which infested it, and from the intense thirst which 

 these people often endured when their water-vessels were 

 insufficient to hold the requisite supply till the next well 

 could be reached. Just before the arrival of my companions 

 a party of the people of the lake came to Kolobeng to ask me 

 to visit their country. They brought flaming accounts of the 

 quantities of ivory to be found there, and talked of cattle-pens 

 made of elephants' tusks of enormous size. 



We started for the unknown region on the 1st of June, 1849. 

 Passing through a range of tree-covered hills to Shokuane, 

 formerly the residence of the Bakwains, we soon after entered 

 on the high road to the Bamangwato, which lies mainly in 

 the bed of an ancient river or wady that must formerly have 

 flowed N. to S. The adjacent country is perfectly flat. The 

 soil is sanely, and there are here and there indications that at 

 spots which now afford no water there were formerly wells 

 and cattle-stations. The land is covered with open forest, 

 bush, and abundance of grass. The trees are mostly a kind 

 of acacia called " Monato," which appears a little to the south 

 of this region, and is common as far as Angola. A large 

 caterpillar, called "Nato," feeds by night on the leaves, and 



