528 
TKADITIONS. 
Chap. XXVI. 
portion, and is now called Lake Ngami. The Falls of Gonye 
furnished an outlet to the lake of the Barotse valley, and so of 
the other great lakes of remote times. The Congo also finds its 
way to the sea through a narrow fissure, and so does the Orange 
Eiver in the west; while other rents made in the eastern ridge, 
as the Victoria Falls and those to the east of Tanganyenka, allowed 
the central waters to drain eastward. AU the African lakes 
hitherto discovered are shallow, in consequence of being the mere 
residua of very much larger ancient bodies of water. There can 
be no doubt that this continent was, in former times, very much 
more copiously supphed with water than at present, but a natural 
process of drainage has been going on for ages. Deep fissures 
are made, probably by the elevation of the land, proofs of which 
are seen in modern shells embedded in marly tufa, aU round 
the coast-line. Wliether tliis process of desiccation is as rapid 
tlmoughout the continent, as in a letter to the late Dean Buck- 
land, in 1843, I showed to have been the case in the Bechuana 
country, it is not for me to say; but though there is a shght 
tradition of the waters having burst tln-ough the low lulls south 
of the Barotse, there is none of a sudden upheaval accom¬ 
panied by an earthquake. The formation of the crack of Mo- 
sioatunya is perhaps too ancient for that; yet, although in¬ 
formation of any remarkable event is often transmitted in the 
native names, and they even retain a tradition wliich looks 
like the story of Solomon and the harlots, there is not a name 
like Tom Earthquake, or Sam Shake-the-ground, in the whole 
country. They have a tradition wliich may refer to the build¬ 
ing of the Tower of Babel, but it ends m the bold builders 
getting their crowns cracked by the fall of the scaffolding; and 
that they came out of a cave called “ Loey ” (Noe ?), in company 
with the beasts, and aU point to it in one dhection, viz. the 
N.N.E. Loey, too, is an exception in the language, as they use 
masculine instead of neuter pronouns to it. 
If we take a glance back at the great valley, the form the 
rivers have taken imparts the idea of a lake slowly drained out, 
for they have cut out for themselves beds exactly like what we 
may see, in the soft mud of a shallow pool of rain-water, when 
that is let off by a furrow. This idea would probably not strike 
a person on coming first into the country, but more extensive 
