Chap. III. 
DEPARTUKE FROM KOLOBENG. 
53 
CHAPTEE III. 
Departure from Kolobeng, 1st June, 1849 — Companions — Our route — 
Abundance of grass-—Serotli, a fountain in the desert-—Mode of digging 
wells — The eland — Animals of the desert — The hysena —The chief 
Sekomi — Dangers —■ The wandering guide — Cross purposes •— Slow 
progress — Want of water — Capture of a Bushwoman — The salt-pan at 
Nchokotsa — The mirage — Reach the river Zouga — The Quakers of 
Africa — Discovery of Lake Ngami, 1st August, 1849 — Its extent — 
Small depth of water — Position as the reservoir of a great river system — 
The Bamangwato, and their chief—Desire to visit Sebituane, the chief 
of the Makololo — Refusal of Lechulatebe to furnish us with guides 
— Resolve to return to the Cape — The banks of the Zouga — Pitfalls — 
Trees of the district—Elephants — New sj^ecies of antelope—Fish in 
the Zouga. 
Such was the Desert which we were now preparing to cross,— a 
region formerly of terror to the Bechuanas from the numbers of 
serpents which infested it and fed on the different kinds of mice, 
and from the intense tliirst wliich these people often endm^ed 
when their water-vessels were insufficient for the distances to be 
travelled over before reaching the weUs. 
Just before the arrival of my companions, a party of the people 
of the lake came to Kolobeng, stating that they were sent by 
Lechulatebe, the chief, to ask me to visit that country. They 
brought such flaming accounts of the quantities of ivory to be 
found there (cattle-pens made of elephants’ tusks of enormous 
size, &c.), that the guides of the Bakwains were quite as eager to 
succeed in reaching the lake as any one of us could desire. This 
was fortunate, as we knew the way the strangers had come was 
impassable for waggons. 
Messrs. Oswell and Murray came at the end of May, and we 
all made a fair start for the unknown region on the 1st of June, 
1849. Proceeding northwards, and passing tlnough a range of 
tree-covered hills to Shokuane, formerly the residence of the 
Bakwains, we soon after entered on the high road to the Bamang¬ 
wato, which hes generally in the bed of an ancient river or wady 
that must formerly have flowed N. to S. The adjacent country 
