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THE SNOW STORM.

so than the other persons there, but Mr. Fletcher said some quiet words to us all, as he gave the different presents into our hands.

Some of the books and other articles had belonged to Miss Naucy, but not nearly all. The pretty Bible that I had often admired was given to one whom I would have much liked to see it possessed by; and that gratified me. Neverthe less, it was not held by her very long-for even when a few years had come and gone, her grave, too, was dug; and summer's suns have shone upon, and winter's blasts have rustled for many long, and often weary, years through the grass and flowers over the dust of that kind heart. A little book, with pretty engravings-or pictures, as we called them then-of places iu distant India, was given to my brother; like a glimpse into the world that was to be for him; since, when years had passed away, and he had reached to manhood's opening

prime, weary and wounded, and far from home or any that would have spoken home words to his heart, after a day of strife and struggle, he died close by the Sutlej waters, like many more of the adventurous youth of his country-taking infeftment of India with their blood.

We were a little party of twenty, perhaps twenty-two, and if we were all alive to-day not one of us could be considered over middle life. Alas, that middle life! It is so deceptive to the young. More than a half of our party never reached the middle. Life on earth has only now a minority

of our number.

When the silvery bell struck nine, the Bible was read, and after worship, in fifteen minutes, we were all gone from Blinkbonnie, and some of us marvelling how the Christmas days would be got over; for young hearts are like the sea sands, easily marked, and the record is as easily blotted out; they cannot keep traces of grief for a long time. The meridian of winter came, and therewith its ordinary amusements, but not like the last, for that to us had been very brilliant. It passed into care and work again, but the snow fell heavily, and the roads were locked up, so that out of door labour was scarce, and even the school classes were "thin," though this was the season of their greatest bustle and prosperity, in an open winter.

CHAPTER XV.

THE SNOW STORM.

It might have been the last day in that January; it was the last Saturday, that a woman of a genteel look, with three children, a boy and two girls -the boy, who was the older-perhaps eight years old, and the younger of the girls, four, passed up the road through among the houses as if she had been to call at Dr. More's. Being parochially visited by many strangers from a distance, we were not stirred into inquisitiveness like the people of less frequented villages, by the presence of unknown

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folks. So the women only stopped from their work to look out at their doors after the strangers, and wonder where they came from, what they were, and where they were going. Two of them who had children to spare, sent them just to look where the strange woman and her children stopped, and they came back and told that they wandered into Widow Robbs, as aforesaid, some little distance up the water. It was natural to suppose that they were friends of the Robbs, and nobody took much farther notice of their visit, seeing that they might have well come even from the town, for it was a beautifully clear day, and the road was now quite open and pleasant to walk over. Thus, when an hour after they returned, the neighbours only thought it late enough, for it would be three o'clock, to travel into the town-as the road was good three miles, and rather lonely with the woods that the strangers went into Mrs. Grey's, who kept on each side in some places. They did not observe a small grocery, and also collected our letters for the post.

Mrs. Grey was a couthy person, although curious in prying into other people's affairs, but she was soft-hearted, and sorry when the mother bought two little loaves, and was to divide them dry with the children.

Mrs. Grey, perceiving that they were strangers, would not allow that, and took them through to her little room, and made the children take some milk, and gave the mother a cup of tea, have stopped, except for her kindness. Mrs. Grey and may be kept them longer than they would noticed that the children, like their mother, came from a distance, and had not been long in our quarter, for their manner of speech was very not easily take up with new pronunciations, yet different from ours; aud, although old people do the young speak in the tones that they hear. The woman said that she had come a long way, concerning some friends, to the town, where she was stopping for a time, and the day being very fine, had wandered out to see the country with the and she inquired the names of several places that children, which was most natural in a stranger; she had passed, and also of Blinkbonnie, just as if she had not known it. And Mrs. Grey said that it belonged to Mr. Rose, and had once been the property of an old family, but they left an only son and he was not a wise man,-anything but that nor a good, as she had heard say—and he had died in foreign parts, or was killed, leaving heaps of debts, and the land was sold. Afterwards she said that the stranger woman's face, that once had been very pretty, and was pretty still, fell when she spoke of the spendthrift laird, but that might have been imagination-only she hurried away, and would not wait for the carriers, who would pass through soon, for the afternoon was far over, and the children could walk better than ride. That seemed to be true, for they were but clothed thinly, and their little things were just too fine for the night, although they looked as if they had been over-long worn. Their mother wanted to leave

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sixpence for the tea, but Mrs. Grey was not mean that way, and would only take payment for the bread. So they bade her good night, the boy said "Good afternoon, Ma'am," and they all went on their way. Mrs. Grey was busied with her letters, and put- | ting past her tea cups, and cleaning her lamp, for half an hour or more, when the night became darker than usual; the wind rose, and the snow whirled round her house in such drifts, that she was glad to fasten her door, and could neither look out, nor did any neighbours come to her; but she sat alone thinking of the poor travellers, who could not have been half-way to the town when the storm began; and she thought, yet could do no more, as no customer came near until it was six o'clock, when the sudden onset settled for time; and even then, as there were houses by the way, except in the woods, she did not speak of the travellers in so much alarm as pity for the children.

This was one of those Saturday nights that David Robertson was to spend at Netherstane; but he had been kept longer in the town than he wished, and the storm caught him soon after he had left, before he came to the woods. He was a strong lad, who knew his road, and it led him to a warm home; and so he struggled on; but he said afterwards the wind often turned him round, and he was blinded, and nearly choked with drift; sometimes almost "wull," and doubtful of the way he was walking, until he got between the trees where the wind was a little broken, and he could not lose his road. He saw nothing, however, as who could in a cloud of dense snow. After he had wrestled on with storm and wind, until he doubted if it would be wiser to to turn back, and had nearly lost heart, he thought that a small weak voice was crying near him. The wind made a strong sough as it bent down the tops of the trees, and he could see no distance; but between the blasts he always thought the small weak voice in distress came to him. The place was eerie, and the whistling wind among the trees, sometimes moaning low and sad, and then rising to a mad

screech in its swirls, made the time eerie too, while we had strange wild tales of voices that led travellers to their death; but David Robertson was a brave good lad, and he strove hard to reach the place that the sound came from, and harder as it moulded itself to words that he could understand.

A great oak tree stood close to the road, halfway through the wood on the north side—a perfect land mark; for its branches reached far over the ditch, and when David got there he knew the place very well; and he could hear the small voice saying now between bursts of crying—“ Oh! Mamma waken and come home-Jeannie's sleeping, Mamma and cold-waken and come away-little Elie will not waken and will be killed with the cold-oh, Mamma! rise, little Elie's dying ?"

The kind hearted lad was afraid of startling the boy, but he was forced to do something; for he saw the mother and her two children in the snow beneath the tree, and they must have been covered up, if the little fellow had not been running wildly round where they lay, trying every way to rouse the sleepers. So he said quietly to the boy that he was going up to the village and would help him to waken his mamma, and carry the children; but when he stooped down and touched the youngest child and tried to lift it, even he who was not used to death, knew that the arm around the infant had stiffened for ever, and that the mother would no more waken in time. Gradually he drew out the little Elie and held her close to his plaid, and then removed the elder sister, and they both wakened up and spoke; and cried like their brother to their Mamma, to rise and come away. It was a dowie business for the young man, and be took off his plaid, and wrapped it round the two girls, and tried to carry them; but the children would not leave their mother, and he knew that the nearest house was almost half a mile from there. No way of doing seemed wiser to the lad than the only way that was practicable -to stop where they were on the road-side-the orphans and the stranger, with the dead mother.

SOUTHERN AFRICA.

THE discoveries of Dr. Livingstone in Southern | the existence of fertile and well watered countries; Africa have given a romantic interest to all the matters appertaining to that part of the great continent of Ham. The romance of these journeyings would have, perhaps, served to give more value to Africa in British society, if the lakes and rivers discovered had not promised mercantile results. The Africans of the South have been shut out from other parts of the world by belts of desert land. Europeans have not until recently penetrated those inhospitable deserts, or regions of malaria; and have remained unacquainted with

of comparatively civilised and numerous nations within their protection. Some time since, Mr. Galton published notes of a tour through the Namaqua, Damara, and Ovambo land; in, if we remember correctly, the "Travellers' Library." The first part of Lake Ngami, by Mr. Andersson, to a considerable extent repeats the information afforded by Mr. Galton. That gentleman, however, was obliged to leave the country before the real journey to Lake Ngami commenced, and this enterprise was undertaken by Mr. Andersson, i

THE AFRICAN MISSIONARIES.

company with the African servants whom he had engaged. The Namaqua land is nearer to Cape Town to the north than the Damara region, which is between it and the Ovambo territory. Neither of these nations extend into the centre of Southern Africa, but they are confined to the coast. Lake Ngami is not within the dominions of the nations named. The chiefs who own its shores are independent of the western nations; and in proceeding farther to the east, Dr. Livingstone met populations in a more advanced state of civilisation than the the tribes of the west. The latter, indeed, are new to the soil. The Caffres are only successful invaders of Southern Africa. The Damaras came into the country within the last hundred years. According to the statement of Mr. Andersson, the race is now extirpated. Their grand enemy, Jonker Afrikaner, being nearer to the Cape, and the coast, was supplied with ammunition, and firearms decide the battles of Africa. This circumstance exposes the error of the British government and parliament, in aban doning part of the land on the Orange river to the independent Dutch Boers, and recognising their separate authority. No other policy could have been more cruel, more disastrous, or more foolish; unless our Government wished to afford the Dutch farmers an opportunity of destroying the natives, without adopting any part of the responsibility. It is impossible by this device to escape from the latter. The Dutch Boers would not preserve their position in the country, if they were not supported by the moral influence of the Cape colony; and the African tribes do not make nice distinctions between European nations, and especially between the Dutch within and the Dutch without British territory.

The hope of Africa is founded upon the progress of European missionaries. The natives may be extinguished, but they cannot be saved without the success of missions. Mr. Andersson asserts, that in the regions visited by him, the labours of the missionaries have been entirely vain. His connexion was chiefly, however, with the Dutch or Rhenish missionaries in the Damara land. The Namaquas, he says, are partially civilized Hottentots, who "possess every vice of savages, and none of their nobler qualities." They "listen to the missionaries' exhortations so long as he can feed and clothe them." When these advantages cease, their conversion is turned into reversion. The missionaries, however, had collected even the Damaras into communities, and taught them to cultivate the soil. This was a great advantage; but Mr. Andersson adds:

Here, however, their civilisation seemed to be at a standstill. The missionaries were laudably and strenuously exerting themselves in their behalf; but, as yet, they had met with little or no encouragement. To the mind of a Damara, the idea of men visiting them solely from love and charity, is utterly inconceivable. They cannot banish a suspicion that the motives of the stranger must be interested, and they not unfrequently require a bribe for any services they may render to the missionary cause. As an instance of the

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utter failure of religious zeal in these parts, I may mention that Mr. Hann, who is liked and respected by the natives, never succeeded, as he himself told me, in converting a single individual! In one instance, however, he imagined that he had made a convert; but, before the individual in question could be finally admitted as a member of the Christian church, it was necessary that he should give satisfactory answers to certain questions. One of these was, whether, according to the usages of Christianity, he would be contented with one wife. To this the man replied, "that though he was very anxious to oblige Mr. Hann and his friends personally, and to further the objects of the mission in every way possible, yet his conscience would not permit him to make so great a sacrifice as that required."

The chief Kacichené was considered by the travellers an exception to the rule. He had settled with part of his tribe at Schmelen's Hope; but while the travellers were in the country, he was slain in battle, and his tribe were obliterated. Messrs. Anderssen and Galton met, however, with other traces of the missionaries' teaching. Rehoboth, a station of the Rhenish mission, they met William Zwartbooi, who, with his followers, had adopted Christianity. These followers appear to have been men of good character :

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We had thus in a short time lost the services of three men; but, fortunately, through the kindness of our friend, Zwartbooi, we were able to replace them by two others. The first of these was his own henchman, Onesimus, who was a

Damara by birth, but had been captured as a child and brought up amongst the Namaquas. He spoke the language of these two nations most fluently, and understood, moreover, a few words of Dutch. What with his capacity as an interpreter, his even temper, and general good behaviour, he became one of the most useful men of our party.

The other man, Phillipus, was also a Damara by birth, but had forgotten his native tongue. He spoke, however, the Namaqua and the Dutch fluently. He was appointed a waggon-driver.

Mr. Anderssen gives in his work a rather depressing view of the Damara and Namaqua character, in reference to missions; for at page 132 we find the following statement respecting William Zwartbooi :

On the 6th of February I received a visit from a great Namaqua chieftain, named William Zwartbooi, and found him a very agreeable old personage. He had met Mr. Galton not far from Eikhams, who had sent him to Schmelen's Hope to await his return.

At one time this chief had robbed and massacred the Damaras in precisely a similar way as Jonker Afrikaner; but thanks to the exertions of the missionaries, he had been gradually weaned from his evil practices, and was now living on excellent terms with his neighbours.

Jonker and Zwartbooi associated occasionally, but they were by no means well-disposed towards each other. On one occasion, when the latter had expressed displeasure at his friend's inhuman proceedings against the Damaras, Jonker told him, "That if he (Zwartbooi) meddled with his affairs, he would pay him such a visit as would put a stop to his devotions, and make him cry for quarter."

Within Zwartbooi's territory was a mountain, called 'Taus, where horses might pasture throughout the year without being exposed to the "paarde ziektè," the cruel distemper to which these animals are subject. Almost all the northern Namaquas, Jonker among the rest, are in the habit of sending their horses here during the sickly season.

On one occasion, when Jonker was about to make a "raid" on the Damaras, he sent an express to Zwartbooi for his horses; but this chief having been apprised of the cause

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for which these steeds were wanted, refused, under some pretext, to give them up; and, whilst parleying, the favourable opportunity was lost. It seems Jonker never forgave Zwartbooi this act of treachery, as he called it, and determined, let the risk be whatever it might, never again to put himself in another man's power.

It would appear, therefore, that the author's experiences do not support his opinion. Savage nations cannot be converted in a few years, and in Zwartbooi's case, the Rhenish missionaries had much reason to be gratified with their success. It is also evident that "the noble qualities" of savages which, in a philosophic moment, he celebrates, are imaginative as we should suppose from a prima facie view of affairs :

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Tjopopa would spend whole days at our camp in the most absolute idleness and apathy, teazing us with begging for everything he saw. Like all Damaras he had a perfect mania for tobacco, and considered no degradation too deep, provided he could obtain a few inches of the narcotic weed. He was of an easy and mild disposition, but exceedingly stingy. We stood greatly in need of live stock, and took every op portunity to display our most tempting articles of barter in the hope of inducing him to purchase. Brass or gilt articles he almost spurned, but cast longing eyes on articles of iron or copper. At last he selected goods to the value of four oxen, with which he quietly walked off. On asking him for payment the following day, he smilingly replied, "Why, between us there must be no talk of buying and selling. You are going to stop here a long time, and you will want plenty of food; this I will give you."

Knowing the truth of the adage, that a "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," we should infinitely have preferred an immediate settlement to any vague promises. And the end justified our apprehensions. The old rogue took good care neither to pay his debt, nor make us any presents of cattle of which we stood so much in need. Nay, he even went further. Under pretext of supplying our wants, he induced his people to contribute oxen and sheep, which he was mean enough to keep for his own use.

Our friend Tjopopa was rather a sensual man; he was supposed to have no less than twenty wives-two of whom, I found to my astonishment, were mother and daughter! I have since ascertained that this is by no means an unusual practice amongst this demoralised nation. Moreover, when a chief dies, his surviving wives are transferred to his brother, or to his nearest relative.

It is in vain that poets and philanthropists endeavour to persuade us that savage nations, who have had no previous intercourse with Europeans, are living in a state of most enviable happiness and purity-where ignorance is virtuous simplicity-poverty, frugality, and temperance and indolence, laudable contempt for wealth. One single day among such people will be sufficient to repudiate these idle notions.

The difference between Kabichené and Tjopopa was considerable, and between the latter and Zwartbooi still larger, while for these distinctions the missions, we presume, must have credit.

The heathenism of Damara, Namaqua, aud Ovambo was of a very degraded type. The superstitions of the one class were kindred to those of the other. Some curious details respecting them are to be found in this volume. Although the Damaras derive little comfort from their creed, it is a heavy burthen, and its faint glimmerings of a hereafter often cost their lives.

Though the Damaras do not profess absolutely to believe in a life hereafter, they have a confused notion of a future state. Thus, they not unfrequently bring provisions to the

grave of a deceased friend or relation, requesting him to eat and make merry. In return, they invoke his blessing, and pray for success against their enemies, an abundance of cattle, numerous wives, and prosperity in their undertakings.

The spirits of deceased persons are believed to appear after death, but are then seldom seen in their natural form. They usually assume on such occasions the shape of a dog, having not unfrequently the foot of an ostrich. Any individual to whom such an apparition (Otjurn) might appear, especially if it should follow and accost him, is supposed to

die soon after.

The Damaras have great faith in witchcraft. Individuals versed in the black art are commonly called Omanda, Onganga, or Omundu-Ondyai, and are much sought after. Any person falling sick is immediately attended by one of these impostors, whose panacea is to besmear the month and the forehead of the patient with the odure of the hyena, which is supposed to possess particularly healing virtues. The sorcerer, moreover, makes signs and conjurations.

Some very singular superstitions about meat exist among the Damaras. Thus, a man will perhaps not eat the flesh of an ox which may happen to be marked with black, white, or red spots. Others refuse to partake of a sheep should it have no horns, whilst some would not touch the meat of a draught-ox, according to the rule of the "eanda" to which he belongs. If meat is offered a Damara, he will accept it, but before he ventures to eat it, he carefully in quires about the colour of the animal, whether it had horns, &c., and should it prove forbidden food, he will in all pro bability leave it untouched, even though he might be dying of hunger. Some even carry their scruples so far as to avoid coming in contact with vessels in which such food has been cooked; nay, even the smoke of the fire by which it is prepared is considered injurious. Hence, the religious superstitions of these people often expose them to no small amount of inconvenience and suffering.

The fat of particular animals is supposed to possess certain virtues, and is carefully collected and kept in vessels of a peculiar kind. A small portion of this is given, in solution with water, to persons who return safely to their homes after a lengthened absence at the cattle-posts. The chief also makes use of it as an unguent for his body.

The Africans have no such natural antipathy to missionaries and teachers as the traveller to Lake Ngami supposed. The African slaves in the United States are fervent in their religious observances. The negroes of the West Indies, before and after their emancipation, displayed similar characteristics. The missions of Livingstone and Moffat, and many other labourers in the same field, have been emirently successful, at least, in discovering a people sometimes anxious, ever willing to be taught. A little work, and a very beautiful one, containing notes of the last tour of the Bishop of Cape Town, has been published recently. It affords evidences of sincerity among the coloured converts of his diocese, who contribute their full proportion, looking to means and number, for the erection of churches and of schools, for the support of ministers and teachers. The Moravian missionaries have been also rewarded for their self-denying labours, by the erection of villages around their stations, containing in some cases a population of three thousand persous.

Water is the grand want of Western Africa. The Damara land has, nominally, rivers, but they are often absolutely dry; and yet the rainy season extends over six months of the year, and the rains are often very heavy. The country requires irri

LAKES OMANBONDE AND NGAMI.

gation and tanks, after the manner of India, but the population are few and scattered; men of nomadic habits, engaged in pastoral pursuits, and living for the present; thoughtless of the future. The country south of the great Orange river is more mountainous than to the north, and is better supplied with water. The British Colony of Cape Town is altogether south of the Orange river. The Lake of Omanhonde-that Lake of the Hippotami, of which the traveller had heard many flattering reports, after a trying journey to its banks, was only full of disappointment. The tourists found it as dry as a race-course, yet at some seasons it covers to an apparently considerable depth a large quantity of land.

About noon on the 5th of April, we were rapidly approaching Omanbonde; but, oh, how we were disappointed! My heart beat violently with excitement. The sleepy motion of the oxen as they toiled through the heavy sand, being far too slow for my eagerness and excited imagination, I proceeded considerably in advance of the waggons, with about half a dozen Damaras, when all at once the country became open, and I found myself on some rising ground, gently sloping towards the bed of what I thought to be a dry water

course.

"There!" suddenly exclaimed one of the natives, "there is Omanbonde."

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The southern coast of the Lake is considerably elevated, and the water is so closely fringed by extensive belts of reeds and rushes, that it is only accessible in a few places, or where the native cattle have broken through these natural defences. The west shore of the lake is also somewhat raised, though the water is very shallow; but it deepens considerably towards its eastern extremity.

The Ngami must have undergone considerable changes at different periods. The natives have frequently pointed out to me places, now covered with vegetation where they used to spear the hippopotamus. Again, there are unmistakeable proofs of its having been at one time of smaller dimensions than at present; for submerged stumps of trees are constantly met with. This is not, I believe to be attributed to the upheaving or to the sinking of the land, but that, in all probability, the lake was originally of its present size, or nearly so, when a sudden and unusually large flood poured into it from the interior, which, on account of the flatness of the country, could not be drained off as quickly as it flowed in, but caused the water to rise above its usual height, which remaining in that state some time soon destroyed the vegetation.

Before the lake was known, and when only rumours had reached us of its existence, the natives spoke of its waters as retiring daily to "feed." But I am rather inclined to think they pointed to a singular phenomenon that I observed while navigating its broad waters, which I then attributed to the wind, though, on consideration, I suspect it was more likely to have arisen from the effects of the moon's attraction.

"Omanbonde!" I exclaimed, almost in despair, "but Ngami is fed by the Teoge from the north-west a

where, in the name of Heaven, is the water ?"

I could say no more, for my heart failed me, and I sat down till the waggons came up, when, pointing to the dry river bed, I told Galton that he saw the Lake before him.

"Nonsense," he replied, "it is only the end or tail of it

which you see there."

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The truth at last dawned upon us. We were indeed at Omanbonde-the Lake of Hippopotami! We all felt utter prostration of heart. For a long while we were unable to give utterance to our feelings. We first looked at the reeds before us, theu at each other in mute dismay and astonishment. A dried-up valley very little more than a mile in extent, and a patch of reeds, was the only reward for months of toil and anxiety.

Ngami happily rewarded Anderssen better than Omanbonde. It is a deep inland sea, of which we should say little in this couutry, but is sixty to seventy miles in circumference, according to his reckoning, and a great matter in Central Africa.

The whole circumference is probably about sixty or seventy geographical miles; its average breadth seven miles, and not exceeding nine at its widest parts. Its shape, moreover, as I have represented it in the map, is narrow in the middle, and bulging out at the two ends; and I may add, that the first reports received many years ago from the natives about the Lake, and which concurred in representing it of the shape of a pair of spectacles, is correct.

The northern shore of Ngami is low and sandy, without a tree or bush, or any other kind of vegetation within half-a mile, or more commonly a mile. Beyond this distance, (almost all round the lake) the country is very thickly wooded with various sorts of acacia indigenous to Southern Africa, the Damara "parent tree," a few species of wild fruit trees, and here and there an occasional baobob, which raises its enormous head high above the highest giant of the forest.

narrow but very deep river, flowing through a beautiful country extremely rich in vegetation, and capable of great improvement. Mr. Andersson argues that a river running parallel with the Teoge, but towards the west, and at no great distance from that stream, named the Mukuru-Mukovanja, exists, and is navigable probably to near its source. From the nature of the country, the union of the rivers would be an easy engineering work, and thus a navigable channel would be. secured from the Atlantic into Lake Ngami. The theory depends upon the existence of the Mukuru-Mukovanja, and its qualities. The same stream is laid down as the Naurse river on a roughly traced map by Dr. Livingstone, but he leads his tracings in a direction entirely different from those of the Teoge.

The Ngami, instead of being called sixty to seventy miles in circumference by Dr. Livingstone, is said to have fifty to seventy miles of length, and all parties give it an occasional breadth of twenty miles, involving at least double the arca assigned to it by the author of "Lake Ngami," who speaks highly of the country on the Teoge and the stream; but he did not follow the River Zouga, which flows out of the lake, and up whose gentle current Dr. Livingstone made his way, reaching the lake from that side. The Zouga is said to lose itself in marshes, as is the case with other African rivers, but that point is not clearly established. It is certain that the lake Ngami and its two rivers present a region of fertile and well watered land, traced by the two travellers, and having a length of three to four hundred miles. Mr. Andersson did not penetrate to the north of Ngami, where Dr. Livingstone found a road into a network of rivers extending over a region of some

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