The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

—lC>i SOTTTII AXn I'^ART AFRICA.at times as many us thirty tliousand Inliabitanls, oxclusivo of numerous villagesusiiilly grouped in a circlo like the cattle onclosiu'es, all really constituting partof the s:ime urhin population. But this gross aggregate has been considerablyreduced by wars of succession, and had fallen in 1880 to little over six thousand.Since then, however, the population has again increased, thanks to the cessationof internecine strife. Lying 3,400 feofc above sea-lovol in a vast plain, not, likemost other Boohuiua capitals, on a steep escarpment, Shoshoug stretches alongboth sides of a mostly dry rivulet, which is dominated on tlie north by a graniterido-o some I'i inilos long. Southwards a basalt eminence is disposed parallel withFiic--^1.Trade Routes in BECnuANAtAXD.Scale 1 : 30,000,000.Railways.__ GOO Miles.this granitemass, the intermediate space between the two heights being occupiedby well-cultivated gardens and hamlets.The Ba-Mangwatos have long been subject to the influence of the Englishmissionaries, and have now for the most part adopted the Christian faith.Throughout their territory the sale of alcoholic drinks and the brewing of beerare forbidden under severe penalties—a fine of £100 for the foreign dealer,whether English or Boer, and banishment for the natives convicted of thisoffence.At Shoshong converge the two main commercial highways which traverseBechuanalaud, one running north in the direction of the Zambese, the other northwesttowards Lake Ngami. Southwards both merge in a common route whichskirts the west frontier of the Dutch republics, but, except at one point, keepingwellwithin the British Protectorate. At present the total annual foreign tradeof Bechuanalaud is estimated at £100,000. Yet at the beginning of the present