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THE MUKURU-MUKOVANJA.

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.

From these statements, the existence of a river, in all probability of great magnitude, and perhaps navigable to its very source, or nearly so, is so far authenticated that I have had no hesitation in laying it down on my map. Assuming that the Teoge and the Mukuru-Mukovanja run parallel, though in contrary directions, at the distance from each other of two or three days' journey, as I was informed by the Griquas above mentioned, there exists an almost uninterrupted navigation of several hundred miles, affording a compara-