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1886.] Geography and Travels. 879 
will, at Kais on the course of the Molapo, mature in the dry sea- 
son without irrigation. The Kattea are a nomadic tribe much 
like the Bushmen, but live in huts made of sticks set in a half 
circle, bent forward and covered with grass and milk-bush. The 
men are nude, the women clothed in a bit of skin. The Vaalpens 
are vassals of the Bechuanas, and in turn enslave the Kattea and 
Bushmen, The tribes on and bordering the desert practice cir- 
cumcision at the age of sixteen, sometimes with fatal conse- 
quences, 
huhitung has a population of several hundred Bakalahari, a 
cross between Matabele and Bechuanas. 
Near the Ochimbinde river, south of Lake Ngami, a thick 
forest was met with. Lake Ngami is becoming shallower every 
year on account (according to our traveler) of the gradual rising 
of the country. Griqua land is also rising. A tribe of dwarf 
Bushmen, called M’Kabbas, was found west of the lake. None 
€xceeded four feet eizht, and the women were as tall as the men. 
After reaching the watershed north of Lake Ngami, our traveler 
turned back, taking a more westerly route, but everywhere found 
e Kalahari not a barren waste but a sandy tract clothed toa 
large extent with grass and with k’yong trees (a species of 
Mimosa) scattered about. The red sand at Mier is very fertile. 
ere are the headquarters of Dirk Vielander, a half-breed who 
claims a large tract north of Koranna land. Mr. Farini reports 
the discovery of a variety of giraffe with white spots instead of 
tk, and much taller than the common kind. 
While hunting, a huge elliptical walled enclosure of cyclopean 
masonry was found in about 234° S. lat. and 21% E. long. 
Basin-shaped ovals, sometimes formed out of one rock, some- 
times composed of several, were regularly distributed every few 
yards round the ellipse. In the middle of the enclosure was a 
‘ross-shaped pavement of long narrow blocks, in the center of 
which was what seemed a base for a pedestal or monument. A 
broken column, with four flat fluted sides, was found, but no in- 
Scriptions could be discovered. 
The falls of the Orange river, before pronounced inaccessible, 
fre also visited by our traveler. The river is broken up at low 
Water into many streams by projecting rocks, but in flood season 
Many of these join into a sheet rivaling that of Niagara. At low 
water there are several smaller falls 350 feet high, and a main fall 
(the Hercules) 165 feet high. 
The Kalahari is a plateau 3000 to 4000 feet above the sea, with 
an average summer heat of 80° during the day. The nights are 
Sool. The average winter temperature is 60°. It is perfectly 
M. Kerr declared that Sr. Farini must have traversed the country 
at a propitious time after a 
