10 
IDEAS EEGAKDING COMETS. 
Chap. I. 
but now quite dry. Wlien these preparations were well advanced, 
I went northwards to visit the Bakaa and Bamangw^to, and the 
Makalaka, living between 22° and 23° south lat. The Bakaa 
mountains had been visited before by a trader, who, with his 
people, all perished from fever. In going round the northern 
part of these basaltic hills near Letloche I was only ten days 
distant from the lower part of the Zouga, which passed by the 
same name as Lake Ngami ;* and I might then (in 1842) have 
discovered that lake, had discovery alone been my object. Most 
part of tins journey beyond Shokuane was performed on foot, in 
consequence of the draught oxen having become sick. Some of 
my companions who had recently joined us, and did not know 
that I understood a little of their speech, were overheard by me 
discussing my appearance and powers : He is not strong, he is 
quite slim, and only appears stout because he puts himself into 
those bags (trousers) ; he will soon knock up.” This caused my 
Higliland blood to rise, and made me despise the fatigue of 
l^eeping them all at the top of then speed for days together, 
and untn I heard them expressing proper opinions of my pedes¬ 
trian powers. 
Returning to Kuruman, in order to bring my luggage to our 
proposed settlement, I was followed by the news that the tribe of 
Bakwains, who had shown themselves so friendly towards me, had 
been driven from Lepelole by the Barolongs, so that my prospects 
for the time of forming a settlement there were at an end. One of 
those periodical outbreaks of war, which seem to have occurred 
from time immemorial, for the possession of cattle, had burst forth 
in the land, and had so changed the relations of the tribes to each 
other, that I was obliged to set out anew to look for a suitable 
locality for a mission station. 
In going north again, a comet blazed on our sight, exciting 
the wonder of every tribe we visited. That of 1816 had been 
followed by an nruption of the Matebele, the most cruel enemies 
* Several words in the African languages begin with the ringing sound 
heard in the end of the word “ comw?^,” If the reader puts an i to the 
beginning of the name of the lake, as Ingami, and then sounds the i as little 
as possible, he will have the correct pronunciation. The Spanish h is em¬ 
ployed to denote this sound, and Ngami is spelt hami—naka means a tusk, 
naka a doctor. Every vowel is sounded in all native words, and the em¬ 
phasis in pronunciation is put upon the penultimate. 
