It was not Moffat, but Livingstone,
however, that first braved the risks of that fever swamp.
A subject of special scientific interest to the missionary during this
period was--the desiccation of Africa. On this topic he addressed a long
letter to Dr. Buckland in 1843, of which, considerably to his regret, no
public notice appears to have been taken, and perhaps the letter never
reached him. The substance of this paper may, however, be gathered from
a communication subsequently made to the Royal Geographical Society[20]
after his first impression had been confirmed by enlarged observation
and discovery. Around, and north of Kuruman, he had found many
indications of a much larger supply of water in a former age. He
ascribed the desiccation to the gradual elevation of the western part of
the country. He found traces of a very large ancient river which flowed
nearly north and south to a large lake, including the bed of the present
Orange River; in fact, he believed that the whole country south of Lake
'Ngami presented in ancient times very much the same appearance as the
basin north of that lake does now, and that the southern lake
disappeared when a fissure was made in the ridge through which the
Orange River now proceeds to the sea.
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