3$ THE KALAHARI DESERT. 



liad arranged that the payment for the guides furnished by 

 Sechele should be the loan of my waggon, to bring back 

 whatever ivory he might obtain from the chief at the lake. 

 When at last Mr. Oswell came, bringing Mr. Murray with 

 him, he undertook to defray the entire expenses of the 

 guides, and fully executed his generous intention. 



Sechele himself would have come with us, but, fearing 

 that the much-talked-of assault of the Boers might take 

 place during our absence, and blame be attached to me 

 for taking him away, I dissuaded him against it by saying 

 that he knew Mr. Oswell " would be as determined as 

 himself to get through the Desert." 



Before narrating the incidents of this journey, I may 

 give some account of the great Kalahari Desert, in order 

 that the reader may understand in some degree the nature 

 of the difficulties we had to encounter. 



The space from the Orange River in the south, lat. 29 , 

 to Lake Ngami in the north, and from about 24 east long, 

 to near the west coast, has been called a desert simply 

 because it contains no running water, and very little water 

 in wells. It is by no means destitute of vegetation and 

 inhabitants, for it is covered with grass and a great variety 

 of creeping plants ; besides which there are large patches 

 of bushes and even trees. It is remarkably flat, but 

 intersected in different parts by the beds of ancient rivers ; 

 and prodigious herds of certain antelopes, which require 

 little or no water, roam over the trackless plains. The 

 inhabitants, Bushmen and Bakalahari, prey on the game 

 and on the countless rodentia and small species of the feline 

 race which subsist on these. In general the soil is light- 

 coloured soft sand, nearly pure silica. The beds of the 

 ancient rivers contain much alluvial soil ; and as that is 

 baked hard by the burning sun, rain-water stands in pools 

 in some of them for several months in the year. 



The quantity of grass which grows on this remarkable 

 region is astonishing, even to those who are familiar with 

 India. It usually rises in tufts with bare spaces between, 

 or the intervals are occupied by creeping plants, which, 

 having their roots buried far beneath the soil, feel little the 

 effects of the scorching sun. The number of these which 

 have tuberous roots is very great ; and their structure is 

 intended to supply nutriment and moisture when during 

 the long droughts they can be obtained nowhere else. 

 Here we have an example of a plant, not generally tuber- 



