THE ZAMBESI BEGION. 
297 
'Confusion, that at dusk, or in the pale glimmer of moon¬ 
shine, it would require no great stretch of imagination 
to believe them the ruins of some city of the past, that 
after the lapse of centuries was being brought afresh to 
light. 
But any illusion of this sort is all dispelled, as one 
watches the restless activity of the throngs that people 
the bottom of the deep dim hollow. The vision of the 
city of the dead dissolves into the scene of a teeming 
ant-hill; all is life and eagerness and bustle. The very 
eye grows confused at the labyrinth of wires stretching 
out like a giant cobweb over the space below, while the 
movements of the countless buckets making their transit 
backwards and forwards only add to the bewilderment. 
Meanwhile to the ear everything is equally trying; 
there is the hoarse creaking of the windlasses ; there is 
the perpetual hum of the wires; there is the constant 
thud of the falling masses of earth; there is the un¬ 
ceasing splash of water from the pumps; and these, 
combined with the shouts and singing of the labourers, 
so affect the nerves of the spectator, that, deafened and 
giddy, he is glad to retire from the strange and striking 
scene. 
But, we cannot linger at Kimberley, however in¬ 
teresting it may be, but must follow Dr. Holub in 
some of his more distant wanderings. Here is an in¬ 
cident which occurred near one of the great salt lakes 
found to the north of Khame’s territory, which lies 
between Bechuanaland and the Zambesi; it introduces 
us to the notorious Matabele, who at that time were the 
terror of the whole region. 
o 
I was very busy arranging some of the curiosities 
that I had collected on my recent rambles, when I was 
startled by a loud cry of distress. On looking out of 
the waggon I saw Meriko, my Bamangwato servant, 
running with all his might through the long grass, and 
shrieking, in the Sechuana dialect, “ They are killing 
me ! they are killing me ! ” He cleared the bushes like 
an antelope; in his hurry he had lost both his grass hat 
and his caama mantle, and had scarcely breath to reach 
