In order to get sufficient money to carry me back to the diamond fields I had to resort to medical practice. Amongst my patients was a trader, who had been thrown out of a waggon through West-beech’s bad driving, and had been a good deal hurt. Another patient was the Dutch minister, De Vries, and by curing him I made a number of friends in the neighbourhood, where he was much beloved.
About this time I received a very courteous answer from Lord Derby in reply to the letter which I had sent him from Shoshong. A few days after-wards I took my departure from Linokana; and choosing the nearest route to Mamusa, went past Oisthuizen’s Farm, and along the southern portion of the west frontier of the Marico district. The stony condition of the road made the whole journey very toilsome.
Whilst rambling about in the neighbourhood of Dornplace Farm on the Molapo, I came to a rocky lake, named Joubert’s Lake, after the owner of the farm. It is probably the smallest of all the lakes in South Africa, and lies in a deep hollow, about a hundred yards long by fifty yards wide; less than twenty yards from the shore it was 800 feet deep, and the farmer informed me that in the rainy season the water rose some four or five feet higher than it was when I saw it; he likewise expressed his belief that the lake was in communication with the Molapo, which flows at no great distance, and on a lower level. I formed an opinion that the lower rocks are of hard grey limestone, and that at the bottom there are caves and grottoes by which the lake is fed. The shores, which were both steep and rocky, were all alive with large bright-
