We Observed,
As We Came Along The Zambesi, That It Had Fallen Two Feet Below The Height
At Which We
First found it, and the water, though still muddy enough
to deposit a film at the bottom of vessels in
A few hours,
is not nearly so red as it was, nor is there so much wreck on its surface.
It is therefore not yet the period of the central Zambesi inundation,
as we were aware also from our knowledge of the interior.
The present height of the water has been caused by rains
outside the eastern ridge. The people here seem abundantly supplied
with English cotton goods. The Babisa are the medium of trade,
for we were informed that the Bazunga, who formerly visited these parts,
have been prevented by the war from coming for the last two years.
The Babisa are said to be so fond of a tusk that they will even sell
a newly-married wife for one. As we were now not far from
the latitude of Mozambique, I was somewhat tempted to strike away
from the river to that port, instead of going to the S.E.,
in the direction the river flows; but, the great object of my journey being
to secure water-carriage, I resolved to continue along the Zambesi,
though it did lead me among the enemies of the Portuguese.
The region to the north of the ranges of hills on our left is called Senga,
from being the country of the Basenga, who are said to be
great workers in iron, and to possess abundance of fine iron ore,
which, when broken, shows veins of the pure metal in its substance.
It has been well roasted in the operations of nature.
Beyond Senga lies a range of mountains called Mashinga,
to which the Portuguese in former times went to wash for gold,
and beyond that are great numbers of tribes which pass under
the general term Maravi. To the northeast there are extensive plains
destitute of trees, but covered with grass, and in some places it is marshy.
The whole of the country to the north of the Zambesi
is asserted to be very much more fertile than that to the south.
The Maravi, for instance, raise sweet potatoes of immense size,
but when these are planted on the southern bank they soon degenerate.
The root of this plant (`Convolvulus batata') does not keep more than
two or three days, unless it is cut into thin slices and dried in the sun,
but the Maravi manage to preserve them for months by digging a pit
and burying them therein inclosed in wood-ashes. Unfortunately,
the Maravi, and all the tribes on that side of the country,
are at enmity with the Portuguese, and, as they practice night attacks
in their warfare, it is dangerous to travel among them.
29TH. I was most sincerely thankful to find myself
on the south bank of the Zambesi, and, having nothing else,
I sent back one of my two spoons and a shirt as a thank-offering to Mpende.
The different head men along this river act very much in concert,
and if one refuses passage they all do, uttering the sage remark,
"If so-and-so did not lend his canoes, he must have had some good reason."
The next island we came to was that of a man named Mozinkwa.
Here we were detained some days by continuous rains, and thought
we observed the confirmation of the Bakwain theory of rains.
A double tier of clouds floated quickly away to the west, and as soon
as they began to come in an opposite direction the rains poured down.
The inhabitants who live in a dry region like that of Kolobeng
are nearly all as weather-wise as the rain-makers, and any one
living among them for any length of time becomes as much interested
in the motions of the clouds as they are themselves.
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