Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/90

 shallow bed of Lake N’gami is filled by its northern and western feeders it sheds its overflow eastwards down the Zooga to the saltpans, whence it is carried off by the Shaneng, their natural outlet; on the other hand, if the N’gami should be low, it receives itself the overflow of the Zooga, which in its deep bed, overgrown as it is with weeds, is able for a long period to retain the water received from its many affluents; nor is it impossible that it is likewise occasionally fed by waters running over from the western side of the saltpans.

It took our team more than three hours after our next start to cross the numerous creeks and smaller pans on the shore of the lake: we came to the end of them, however, in the course of the forenoon, and entered upon a plain stretching northwards as far as the eye could reach, and bounded on the east by a mapani-wood. Herds of game were frequent, but not large. We noticed a good many clumps of reeds, and were not disappointed in the expectation of finding fresh-water in proximity to them, inducing us to rest awhile in the place.

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 the waggon. Pointing to a number of natives at no great distance from him, with their spears brandished in the air, he