From the time that the wind fell the water began slowly to return, and about nine o’clock in the morning it was at its usual height, and the canoes floated once more without any effort on our side.
The Lake is fed by the Teoge at its northwest extremity. The river never, perhaps, much exceeds forty yards; but it is deep, and, when at its greatest height, contains a large volume of water. Its annual overflow takes place in June, July, and August, and sometimes even later. The source of the Teoge is as yet unknown, but is supposed to be very distant. It may probably have its rise on the same high table-land as the Quanza, and other streams of importance. The main course of the Teoge is northwest, but it is so serpentine that, in thirteen days when I ascended it, traveling on an average five miles per day, and reckoning two and a quarter miles to the hour, I only made about one degree of latitude due north of the Lake. As far as I proceeded, however, it was navigable with smaller craft; for only in three places that I can remember did I find less than five feet of water, and, generally speaking, the depth was considerable. It must be recollected, however, that it was then at its greatest height.
Though that portion of the Teoge ascended by me is narrow, I am told that, on approaching its source, it widens considerably (one of the many curious points in African geography); and the country on both sides is often inundated to a very great extent, frequently having the appearance of an endless lake, thickly overgrown with reeds and rushes, and dotted with islets covered with beautiful trees and shrubs.
At its eastern extremity the Ngami finds an outlet (the only one) in the fine and stately Zouga. This river, near to Batoana-town, where it escapes from the Lake, is about two hundred yards wide, and, from its gentle flow, appears at rest, the motion of the stream being imperceptible to the eye. Indeed, it is asserted by some—and should it be found correct, it certainly would be a most extraordinary fact—that the waters of the Zouga are, at one time of the year, forced back into the Lake by a branch of the Teoge, which river thus not only feeds the Lake at its northwest extremity, as has been already stated, but at the east as well. From the very imperfect development of the water-courses in these parts, I do not think this impossible.
The Zouga continues to run in an easterly direction from the Lake for nearly a month’s journey, or a distance of about three hundred miles, taking all the windings into account, when it is lost in an immense marsh or sand-flat,[84] called, by some, Great Reed Vley. It is a perfect sea of reeds (with occasional openings), and affords a favorite resort to innumerable herds of buffaloes.
About twenty miles before the Zouga ceases to flow it expands into a lake from two to four miles broad, and about twelve or fifteen in extent. During the dry season this river presents “a series of pools with dry spaces between.”
The vegetation all along its course is varied and luxuriant, and in some places the scenery is quite charming, the banks of the river being often, to the very water’s edge, covered with majestic trees of beautiful and dense foliage. The baobob is particularly conspicuous, attaining, not unfrequently, round its stem, a girth of from sixty to seventy-five feet. “The banks,” says Mr. Livingstone, in a letter to a friend, “are beautiful beyond any we had ever seen, except, perhaps, some parts of the Clyde.... The higher we ascended the river the broader it became, until we often saw more than one hundred yards of clear deep water between the broad belt of reed which grows in the shallower parts.... One remarkable feature in this river is its periodical rise and fall. It has risen nearly three feet since our arrival; and this is the dry season. That the rise is not caused by rains is evident from the water being so pure. Its purity and softness increased as we ascended toward its junction with the Tamanakle, from which, although connected with the lake, it derives its present increased supply. The people could give no reason for the rise of the water further than that a chief, who lives in a part of the country to the north, called Mazzekiva, kills a man annually and throws his body into the stream, after which the water begins to flow.”
Before closing my remarks on the rivers of the Lake, I must beg to draw the attention of the reader to a circumstance which may prove of the most vital interest to the civilization and commerce of these regions. It is as follows:
About two days west of the Teoge, two rivers are reported to exist. The one is a small branch of the Teoge, and is supposed, after meandering through a desert for a couple of days, to lose itself in a marsh. The second (and to which I particularly desire to draw notice) is of larger dimensions, though, near to its source, only periodical. In its course, however, it is fed by fountains—not an uncommon thing in Africa—and it soon increases to a constantly running stream. In due time it becomes a mighty river, flowing slowly through the country of several black nations, and ultimately discharging itself into the sea. This is the statement of a party of Griquas who traveled in this direction in search of elephants. I should, perhaps, have hesitated to give credit to their account had it not, on more than one occasion, been corroborated. While on our visit to the Ovambo, we inquired, as mentioned, if they were not aware of any permanently running river in their neighborhood, to which they immediately and unhesitatingly replied in the affirmative. “The Cunenè,” they said, “was only four or five days’ foot-journey distant from them,” but added “that it was not to be compared with a river called Mukuru-Mukovanja, that comes out of Ovatjona-land (clearly the Bechuana country), of which the Cunenè is only a branch.” This valuable and interesting information was confirmed by the Hill-Damaras.
Again, when Mr. Galton and myself, distant only some eight or ten days’ journey from the Lake, were obliged to retrace our steps on account of excessive drought, we were informed by the Bushmen of the existence of a large river to the north, coming from Bechuana-land, and running westward. They further added that another small river comes from the same direction, but is soon lost in the sand, or terminates in a marsh. Now, excepting that the latter is a branch of the Teoge (instead of having its source in the Lake, in common with the large river, as they asserted), their account may be said to have been substantiated.