From the river, that their children,
when taken into the service of the Makololo, where they have only
one large meal a day, become quite emaciated, and pine for a return
to their parents.
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* `Anser leucagaster' and `melanogaster'.
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Part of our company marched along the banks with the oxen, and part went
in the canoes, but our pace was regulated by the speed of the men on shore.
Their course was rather difficult, on account of the numbers of
departing and re-entering branches of the Leeambye, which they had
to avoid or wait at till we ferried them over. The number of alligators
is prodigious, and in this river they are more savage than in some others.
Many children are carried off annually at Sesheke and other towns;
for, notwithstanding the danger, when they go down for water
they almost always must play a while. This reptile is said by the natives
to strike the victim with its tail, then drag him in and drown him.
When lying in the water watching for prey, the body never appears.
Many calves are lost also, and it is seldom that a number of cows
can swim over at Sesheke without some loss. I never could avoid shuddering
on seeing my men swimming across these branches, after one of them
had been caught by the thigh and taken below.
