RETURN TO BAMANGWATO. 



147 



This absence of wet had greatly changed the aspect 

 of the country, and that in a short time, for the day 

 after leaving Tati for Bamangwato and crossing the 

 Shashi River the veldt presented to the travellers 

 a dry, parched appearance, very different from any- 

 thing which had now for a long time been witnessed. 

 The grass was yellow, and many of the trees already 



SALT-PAN, BAMANGWATO. 



bare. A week's trekking brought the party to 

 Bamangwato, which was reached on April nth, 

 after an uneventful journey. 1 



Here Frank Oates found letters awaiting him — 

 the first he had received from England since leaving 



1 The above woodcut, from a drawing taken a little south of 

 Shoshong (Bamangwato), represents one of the salt lakes of this 

 district as seen in winter. The water in these lakes is then all dried 

 up, and their beds, composed of salt and sand, present a dazzling 

 white appearance. 



