LIVINGSTONE. 
219 
beng, lie felt authorised to receive Sechele into the 
Church ; the old chief is still alive, and he now rules 
over what is virtually a native Christian state. Hospi¬ 
table was Livingstone, and his house became a rendezvous 
for English hunters. With the help of, and in the 
company of one of these, Mr. Oswell, he was able to 
undertake a journey of great importance to Lake 
Xgarni, which had never yet been seen by a white man. 
Livingstone’s ultimate object was to visit the great 
Sebituane, who lived 200 miles beyond the lake. They 
CROSSING THE KALAHARI DESERT. 
started on June 1, 1849, and crossing the Kalahari 
Desert, of which Livingtone gave the first detailed 
account, reached the lake on August 1. This excursion 
revolutionised Livingstone’s ideas as to the nature of 
inner Africa. He found it not the vast sandy unin¬ 
habited desert of map-makers, but, notwithstanding the 
Kalahari, on the whole a rich and well-watered country 
supporting a large population. The hydrography of 
the Ngarni region he made himself well acquainted with, 
exhibiting that sure geographical instinct which was 
seldom at fault. In April next year he made another 
attempt to reach Sebituane, this time in company with 
