Chap. VI. SALUBRITY OF CLIMATE. 89 



for the removal of sterility. The result was, that I was teased 

 with applications from husbands and wives from all parts of 

 the country. Some came upwards of two hundred miles to 

 purchase the boon, and it was in vain for me to explain that I 

 had prescribed for an entirely different complaint, whatever 

 might have been the consequential effects of the case. The 

 more I denied, the higher their offers rose ; they would give 

 any money for the " child medicine ;" and it was really heart- 

 rending to hear the earnest entreaty, and see the tearful eye, 

 which spoke the intense desire for offspring. "I am getting 

 old," a woman would say ; " you see grey hairs here and there 

 on my head, and I have no child ; you know how Bechuana 

 husbands cast their old wives away ; what can I do ? I have 

 no child to bring water to me when I am sick," &c. 



The whole of the country adjacent to the Desert, from 

 Kuruman to Kolobeng, or Litubaruba, and beyond up to the 

 latitude of Lake Ngami, is remarkable for the salubrity 

 of its climate. Europeans whose constitutions have been 

 impaired by an Indian residence, feel its restorative powers. 

 The health and longevity of the missionaries have always 

 been fair, though mission-work is not usually conducive to 

 either. Cases have been known in which patients have 

 come from the sea-side with complaints which closely resem- 

 bled consumption ; and they have recovered by the change of 

 residence alone. The parts near the coast, where we have 

 such favourable reports of the health of the British troops, 

 are inferior for persons suffering from pulmonary complaints 

 to any locality which is not subjected to the influence of 

 sea-air. 



Mr. Oswell thought the climate much superior to that of 

 Peru, and, were it not for the great expense of such a trip, I 

 should have no hesitation in recommending the borders of the 

 Kalahari Desert as admirably suited for pulmonary complaints. 

 It is the complete antipodes of our raw English atmosphere. 

 The winter, which begins in May and ends in August, is 

 perfectly dry. Not a drop of rain falls during that period, 

 and damp and cold are never combined. During many 

 months there is scarcely any dew. However hot the day 

 might have been at Kolobeng, — and the thermometer some- 

 times rose to 96° in the coolest part of our h^use, — yet the 



