We Embarked In Canoes,
Belonging To Tuba Mokoro, "Smasher Of Canoes," An Ominous Name; But
He Alone, It Seems, Knew The Medicine Which Insures One Against
Shipwreck In The Rapids Above The Falls.
For some miles the river
was smooth and tranquil, and we glided pleasantly over water clear as
crystal, and past lovely islands densely covered with a tropical
vegetation.
Noticeable among the many trees were the lofty Hyphaene
and Borassus palms; the graceful wild date-palm, with its fruit in
golden clusters, and the umbrageous mokononga, of cypress form, with
its dark-green leaves and scarlet fruit. Many flowers peeped out
near the water's edge, some entirely new to us, and others, as the
convolvulus, old acquaintances.
But our attention was quickly called from the charming islands to the
dangerous rapids, down which Tuba might unintentionally shoot us. To
confess the truth, the very ugly aspect of these roaring rapids could
scarcely fail to cause some uneasiness in the minds of new-comers.
It is only when the river is very low, as it was now, that any one
durst venture to the island to which we were bound. If one went
during the period of flood, and fortunately hit the island, he would
be obliged to remain there till the water subsided again, if he lived
so long. Both hippopotami and elephants have been known to be swept
over the Falls, and of course smashed to pulp.
Before entering the race of waters, we were requested not to speak,
as our talking might diminish the virtue of the medicine; and no one
with such boiling eddying rapids before his eyes, would think of
disobeying the orders of a "canoe-smasher." It soon became evident
that there was sound sense in this request of Tuba's, although the
reason assigned was not unlike that of the canoe-man from Sesheke,
who begged one of our party not to whistle, because whistling made
the wind come.
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