40 
THE NGAMI. 
lopes, as the springbuck and tsessebe, (Ar.ronotus cunata,) are 
swept down by its rushing waters; the trees are gradually 
driven by the winds to the opposite side, and become em 
bedded in the mud. 
The water of the lake is perfectly fresh when full, bui 
brackish when low; and that coming down the Tamunak’le 
we found to be so clear, cold, and soil, the higher we 
ascended, that the idea of melting snow was suggested to 
our minds. We found this region, with regard to that from 
which we had come, to be clearly a hollow, the lowest 
point being Lake Kumadau ; the point of the ebullition of 
water, as shown by one of Newman’s barometric thermome- 
ters, was only between 207}° and 206°, giving an elevation 
of not much more than two thousand feet above the level of 
the sea. We had descended above two thousand feet in 
coming to it from Kolobeng. it is the southern and lowest 
part of the great river-system beyond, in which large tracts 
of country are inundated annually by tropical rains. 
My chief object in coming to the lake was to visit Sebi- 
tuane, the great chief of the Makololo, who was reported 
to live some two hundred miles beyond. We had nhw 
come to a half-tribe of the Bamangwato, called Batauana. 
Their chief was a young man named Lechulatebe. Sebi- 
tuane had conquered his father Moremi, and Lechulatebe 
received part of his education while a captive among the 
Bayoiye. His uncle, a sensible man, ransomed him, and, 
having collected a number of families together, abdicated 
the chieftainship in favor of his nephew. As Lechulatebe 
had just come into power, he imagined that the proper 
way of showing his abilities was to act directly contrary 
to every thing that his uncle advised. When we came, the 
uncle recommended him to treat us handsomely : therefore 
the hopeful youth presented us with a goat only. It ought 
to have been an ox. So 1 proposed to my companions to 
loose the animal and let him go, as a hint to his master. 
They, however, did not wish to insult him. I, being more 
of a native arid familiar with their customs, knew that 
