Feb. 8, 1858.] JOURNEY ALONG THE ORANGE EWER. 
159 
the fissure into which the Zambesi flows, forming the remarkable Falls called 
by me the Falls of Victoria. When I was in the country to the east of that, 
adjacent to Kuruman, I saw evidences everywhere that this country was at 
some former period mucji better watered than it is now. Everywhere you see 
the remains of ancient river beds, in which you find shells, washed sand, and 
rolled boulders, showing that at some former period they had been large, never 
failing streams. On one occasion I followed the course of a very large river, 
flowing from the north to the south. All the feeders of that stream came in a 
slanting direction, and it could be easily seen that the river flowed from north 
to south, the same as the Zambesi does at a part of its course. At last I came 
to the confluence of that ancient river with a large lake near to where the 
Orange River now flows. At the confluence there were a few hills. These hills 
must have caused an eddy in the stream ; and in that eddy a mound of tufa — • 
soft white limestone — must have been deposited. I examined that mound, and 
to my delight found a great mass of the fossil bones of animals that had lived on 
dry land and had happened to be killed in the water ; and in floating down and 
coming to the eddy had evidently been carried round and round, and then 
sunk. The tufa had been worn away a little, and the bones were standing out 
in relief. I allowed my waggon to go a long distance off, and took up a few of 
the bones and ran after it. It was only seven years afterwards that I was able 
to return, but I was prevented from taking out more of the bones ; those I had 
secured I sent to my friend Professor Owen. They were brought safely to 
England, and then they were stolen from the railway between Devizes and 
London. I never had another opportunity of getting hold of those bones. If 
any future traveller happens to go that way, I beg him not to forget them. 
Now, that large lake was let out when the fissure was formed into which the 
Orange River now flows. You observe in the map that the lake spreads out 
before it comes to the fissure ; in former times, instead of being spread out in 
that way, it extended over a diameter of at least 50 miles. The state of Africa 
was then very different from what it is now. Before the fissures were made 
which let out the rivers and lakes adjacent to them, the extent of water in the 
interior of Africa must have been enormous. A process of desiccation has gone 
on, and there are evidences of the gradual drying up of the country. I may 
mention one instance observed by myself. When the missionaries first went 
into the Kuruman, about 35 years ago, Mr. Moffat made a dam and a canal 
to irrigate a garden. Not a drop of water now flows down so far as where I 
have seen the remains of the dam and canal. In former times the Kuruman 
came all the way down to the Orange River ; and there are persons now living 
who can. remember when hippopotami existed in the Kuruman, where not a 
drop of w T ater now flows, and where people have been drowned. This process 
of desiccation has been going on more rapidly in recent times than before. 
The elevation of the country is probably one great cause of desiccation, but the 
sudden destruction of trees in late years has, no doubt, had a very decided 
effect upon the climate. Thousands of acres of grass are burned up annually, 
and every tree, not in the greatest vigour, is burned down too. In Colesberg, 
during the time I ivas there, the river dried up entirely. We ourselves made 
a dam and canal in the hope of growing European vegetables through the irri- 
gation thus afforded ; but the river dried up, and by-and-bye we were obliged 
to dig in the bed of the river for drinking purposes. Water has not again 
flowed in the Colesberg. When Mr. Moffat visited that country thirty years 
ago, he found about a dozen streams flowing that now never flow. The drying 
up is apparently going on towards the north. 
Mr. W. J. Hamilton, f.r.g.s. — Amongst the many persons who have given 
us information with respect to the physical geography of the interior of Africa, 
there is no one who has contributed so much as Dr. Livingstone himself. It is 
for this reason that I venture to ask one question respecting the physical struc- 
