Preliminary Arrangements for
the Journey -- A Picho -- Twenty-seven Men appointed to accompany me to
the West -- Eagerness of the Makololo for direct Trade with the Coast --
Effects of Fever -- A Makololo Question -- The lost Journal -- Reflections
-- The Outfit for the Journey -- 11th November, 1853, leave Linyanti, and
embark on the Chobe -- Dangerous Hippopotami -- Banks of Chobe -- Trees --
The Course of the River -- The Island Mparia at the Confluence of the
Chobe and the Leeambye -- Anecdote -- Ascend the Leeambye -- A Makalaka
Mother defies the Authority of the Makololo Head Man at Sesheke --
Punishment of Thieves -- Observance of the new Moon -- Public Addresses at
Sesheke -- Attention of the People -- Results -- Proceed up the River --
The Fruit which yields `Nux vomica' -- Other Fruits -- The Rapids -- Birds
-- Fish -- Hippopotami and their Young.
Linyanti, SEPTEMBER, 1853.
The object proposed to the Makololo seemed so desirable that it was
resolved to proceed with it as soon as the cooling influence of the rains
should be felt in November. The longitude and latitude of Linyanti (lat.
18d 17' 20" S., long. 23d 50' 9" E.) showed that St. Philip de Benguela
was much nearer to us than Loanda; and I might have easily made
arrangements with the Mambari to allow me to accompany them as far as
Bihe, which is on the road to that port; but it is so undesirable to
travel in a path once trodden by slave-traders that I preferred to find
out another line of march.
Accordingly, men were sent
at my suggestion to examine all the country to the west, to see if any
belt of country free from tsetse could be found to afford us an outlet.
The search was fruitless. The town and district of Linyanti are surrounded
by forests infested by this poisonous insect, except at a few points, as
that by which we entered at Sanshureh and another at Sesheke. But the
lands both east and west of the Barotse valley are free from this insect
plague. There, however, the slave-trade had defiled the path, and no one
ought to follow in its wake unless well armed. The Mambari had informed me
that many English lived at Loanda, so I prepared to go thither. The
prospect of meeting with countrymen seemed to overbalance the toils of the
longer march.
A "picho" was called to
deliberate on the steps proposed. In these assemblies great freedom of
speech is allowed; and on this occasion one of the old diviners said,
"Where is he taking you to? This white man is throwing you away. Your
garments already smell of blood." It is curious to observe how much
identity of character appears all over the world. This man was a noted
croaker. He always dreamed something dreadful in every expedition, and was
certain that an eclipse or comet betokened the propriety of flight. But
Sebituane formerly set his visions down to cowardice, and Sekeletu only
laughed at him now. The general voice was in my favor; so a band of
twenty-seven were appointed to accompany me to the west.
These men were not hired,
but sent to enable me to accomplish an object as much desired by the chief
and most of his people as by me. They were eager to obtain free and
profitable trade with white men. The prices which the Cape merchants could
give, after defraying the great expenses of a long journey hither, being
very small, made it scarce worth while for the natives to collect produce
for that market; and the Mambari, giving only a few bits of print and
baize for elephants' tusks worth more pounds than they gave yards of
cloth, had produced the belief that trade with them was throwing ivory
away. The desire of the Makololo for direct trade with the sea-coast
coincided exactly with my own conviction that no permanent elevation of a
people can be effected without commerce. Neither could there be a
permanent mission here, unless the missionaries should descend to the
level of the Makololo, for even at Kolobeng we found that traders demanded
three or four times the price of the articles we needed, and expected us
to be grateful to them besides for letting us have them at all.
The three men whom I had
brought from Kuruman had frequent relapses of the fever; so, finding that
instead of serving me I had to wait on them, I decided that they should
return to the south with Fleming as soon as he had finished his trading. I
was then entirely dependent on my twenty-seven men, whom I might name
Zambesians, for there were two Makololo only, while the rest consisted of
Barotse, Batoka, Bashubia, and two of the Ambonda.
The fever had caused
considerable weakness in my own frame, and a strange giddiness when I
looked up suddenly to any celestial object, for every thing seemed to rush
to the left, and if I did not catch hold of some object, I fell heavily on
the ground: something resembling a gush of bile along the duct from the
liver caused the same fit to occur at night, whenever I turned suddenly
round.
The Makololo now put the
question, "In the event of your death, will not the white people blame us
for having allowed you to go away into an unhealthy, unknown country of
enemies?" I replied that none of my friends would blame them, because I
would leave a book with Sekeletu, to be sent to Mr. Moffat in case I did
not return, which would explain to him all that had happened until the
time of my departure. The book was a volume of my Journal; and, as I was
detained longer than I expected at Loanda, this book, with a letter, was
delivered by Sekeletu to a trader, and I have been unable to trace it. I
regret this now, as it contained valuable notes on the habits of wild
animals, and the request was made in the letter to convey the volume to my
family.
The prospect of passing
away from this fair and beautiful world thus came before me in a pretty
plain, matter-of-fact form, and it did seem a serious thing to leave wife
and children -- to break up all connection with earth, and enter on an
untried state of existence; and I find myself in my journal pondering over
that fearful migration which lands us in eternity, wondering whether an
angel will soothe the fluttering soul, sadly flurried as it must be on
entering the spirit world, and hoping that Jesus might speak but one word
of peace, for that would establish in the bosom an everlasting calm. But
as I had always believed that, if we serve God at all, it ought to be done
in a manly way, I wrote to my brother, commending our little girl to his
care, as I was determined to "succeed or perish" in the attempt to open up
this part of Africa. The Boers, by taking possession of all my goods, had
saved me the trouble of making a will; and, considering the light heart
now left in my bosom, and some faint efforts to perform the duty of
Christian forgiveness, I felt that it was better to be the plundered party
than one of the plunderers.
When I committed the wagon
and remaining goods to the care of the Makololo, they took all the
articles except one box into their huts; and two warriors, Ponuane and
Mahale, brought forward each a fine heifer calf. After performing a number
of warlike evolutions, they asked the chief to witness the agreement made
between them, that whoever of the two should kill a Matebele warrior
first, in defense of the wagon, should possess both the calves.
I had three muskets for my
people, a rifle and double-barreled smooth-bore for myself; and, having
seen such great abundance of game in my visit to the Leeba, I imagined
that I could easily supply the wants of my party. Wishing also to avoid
the discouragement which would naturally be felt on meeting any obstacles
if my companions were obliged to carry heavy loads, I took only a few
biscuits, a few pounds of tea and sugar, and about twenty of coffee,
which, as the Arabs find, though used without either milk or sugar, is a
most refreshing beverage after fatigue or exposure to the sun. We carried
one small tin canister, about fifteen inches square, filled with spare
shirting, trowsers, and shoes, to be used when we reached civilized life,
and others in a bag, which were expected to wear out on the way; another
of the same size for medicines; and a third for books, my stock being a
Nautical Almanac, Thomson's Logarithm Tables, and a Bible; a fourth box
contained a magic lantern, which we found of much use. The sextant and
artificial horizon, thermometer, and compasses were carried apart. My
ammunition was distributed in portions through the whole luggage, so that,
if an accident should befall one part, we could still have others to fall
back upon. Our chief hopes for food were upon that; but in case of
failure, I took about 20 lbs. of beads, worth 40s., which still remained
of the stock I brought from Cape Town, a small gipsy tent, just sufficient
to sleep in, a sheep-skin mantle as a blanket, and a horse-rug as a bed.
As I had always found that the art of successful travel consisted in
taking as few "impedimenta" as possible, and not forgetting to carry my
wits about me, the outfit was rather spare, and intended to be still more
so when we should come to leave the canoes. Some would consider it
injudicious to adopt this plan, but I had a secret conviction that if I
did not succeed,
it would not be for want of
the "knick-knacks" advertised as indispensable for travelers, but from
want of "pluck", or because a large array of baggage excited the cupidity
of the tribes through whose country we wished to pass. The instruments I
carried, though few, were the best of their kind. A sextant, by the famed
makers Troughton and Sims, of Fleet Street; a chronometer watch, with a
stop to the seconds hand -- an admirable contrivance for enabling a person
to take the exact time of observations: it was constructed by Dent, of the
Strand (61), for the Royal Geographical Society, and selected for the
service by the President, Admiral Smythe, to whose judgment and kindness I
am in this and other matters deeply indebted. It was pronounced by Mr.
Maclear to equal most chronometers in performance. For these excellent
instruments I have much pleasure in recording my obligations to my good
friend Colonel Steele, and at the same time to Mr. Maclear for much of my
ability to use them. Besides these, I had a thermometer by Dollond; a
compass from the Cape Observatory, and a small pocket one in addition; a
good small telescope with a stand capable of being screwed into a tree.
11TH OF NOVEMBER, 1853.
Left the town of Linyanti, accompanied by Sekeletu and his principal men,
to embark on the Chobe. The chief came to the river in order to see that
all was right at parting. We crossed five branches of the Chobe before
reaching the main stream: this ramification must be the reason why it
appeared so small to Mr. Oswell and myself in 1851. When all the departing
branches re-enter, it is a large, deep river. The spot of embarkation was
the identical island where we met Sebituane, first known as the island of
Maunku, one of his wives. The chief lent me his own canoe, and, as it was
broader than usual, I could turn about in it with ease.
The Chobe is much infested
by hippopotami, and, as certain elderly males are expelled the herd, they
become soured in their temper, and so misanthropic as to attack every
canoe that passes near them. The herd is never dangerous, except when a
canoe passes into the midst of it when all are asleep, and some of them
may strike the canoe in terror. To avoid this, it is generally recommended
to travel by day near the bank, and by night in the middle of the stream.
As a rule, these animals flee the approach of man. The "solitaires",
however, frequent certain localities well known to the inhabitants on the
banks, and, like the rogue elephants, are extremely dangerous. We came, at
this time, to a canoe which had been smashed to pieces by a blow from the
hind foot of one of them. I was informed by my men that, in the event of a
similar assault being made upon ours, the proper way was to dive to the
bottom of the river, and hold on there for a few seconds, because the
hippopotamus, after breaking a canoe, always looks for the people on the
surface, and, if he sees none, he soon moves off. I have seen some
frightful gashes made on the legs of the people who have had the
misfortune to be attacked, and were unable to dive. This animal uses his
teeth as an offensive weapon, though he is quite a herbivorous feeder. One
of these "bachelors", living near the confluence, actually came out of his
lair, and, putting his head down, ran after some of our men who were
passing with very considerable speed.
The part of the river
called Zabesa, or Zabenza, is spread out like a little lake, surrounded on
all sides by dense masses of tall reeds. The river below that is always
one hundred or one hundred and twenty yards broad, deep, and never dries
up so much as to become fordable. At certain parts, where the partial
absence of reeds affords a view of the opposite banks, the Makololo have
placed villages of observation against their enemies the Matebele. We
visited all these in succession, and found here, as every where in the
Makololo country, orders had preceded us, "that Nake (nyake means doctor)
must not be allowed to become hungry."
The banks of the Chobe,
like those of the Zouga, are of soft calcareous tufa, and the river has
cut out for itself a deep, perpendicular-sided bed. Where the banks are
high, as at the spot where the wagons stood in 1851, they are covered with
magnificent trees, the habitat of tsetse, and the retreat of various
antelopes, wild hogs, zebras, buffaloes, and elephants.
Among the trees may be
observed some species of the `Ficus Indica', light-green colored
acacias, the splendid motsintsela, and evergreen cypress-shaped motsouri.
The fruit of the last-named was ripe, and the villagers presented many
dishes of its beautiful pink-colored plums; they are used chiefly to form
a pleasant acid drink. The motsintsela is a very lofty tree, yielding a
wood of which good canoes are made; the fruit is nutritious and good, but,
like many wild fruits of this country, the fleshy parts require to be
enlarged by cultivation:it is nearly all stone. The course of the river we
found to be extremely tortuous; so much so, indeed, as to carry us to all
points of the compass every dozen miles. Some of us walked from a bend at
the village of Moremi to another nearly due east of that point, in six
hours, while the canoes, going at more than double our speed, took twelve
to accomplish the voyage between the same two places. And though the river
is from thirteen to fifteen feet in depth at its lowest ebb, and broad
enough to allow a steamer to ply upon it, the suddenness of the bendings
would prevent navigation; but, should the country ever become civilized,
the Chobe would be a convenient natural canal. We spent forty-two and a
half hours, paddling at the rate of five miles an hour, in coming from
Linyanti to the confluence; there we found a dike of amygdaloid lying
across the Leeambye.
This amygdaloid with
analami and mesotype contains crystals, which the water gradually
dissolves, leaving the rock with a worm-eaten appearance. It is curious to
observe that the water flowing over certain rocks, as in this instance,
imbibes an appreciable, though necessarily most minute, portion of the
minerals they contain. The water of the Chobe up to this point is of a
dark mossy hue, but here it suddenly assumes a lighter tint; and wherever
this light color shows a greater amount of mineral, there are not
mosquitoes enough to cause serious annoyance to any except persons of very
irritable temperaments. The large island called Mparia stands at the
confluence. This is composed of trap (zeolite, probably mesotype) of a
younger age than the deep stratum of tufa in which the Chobe has formed
its bed, for, at the point where they come together, the tufa has been
transformed into saccharoid limestone.
The actual point of
confluence of these two rivers, the Chobe and the Leeambye, is ill
defined, on account of each dividing into several branches as they
inosculate; but when the whole body of water collects into one bed, it is
a goodly sight for one who has spent many years in the thirsty south.
Standing on one bank, even the keen eye of the natives can not detect
whether two large islands, a few miles east of the junction, are main land
or not. During a flight in former years, when the present chief Sekomi was
a child in his mother's arms, the Bamangwato men were separated from their
women, and inveigled on to one of these islands by the Makalaka chief of
Mparia, on pretense of ferrying them across the Leeambye. They were left
to perish after seeing their wives taken prisoners by these cruel lords of
the Leeambye, and Sekomi owed his life to the compassion of one of the
Bayeiye, who, pitying the young chieftain, enabled his mother to make her
escape by night.
After spending one night at
the Makololo village on Mparia, we left the Chobe, and, turning round,
began to ascend the Leeambye; on the 19th of November we again reached the
town of Sesheke. It stands on the north bank of the river, and contains a
large population of Makalaka, under Moriantsane, brother-in-law of
Sebituane. There are parties of various tribes here, assembled under their
respective head men, but a few Makololo rule over all. Their sway, though
essentially despotic, is considerably modified by certain customs and
laws. One of the Makalaka had speared an ox belonging to one of the
Makololo, and, being unable to extract the spear, was thereby discovered
to be the perpetrator of the deed. His object had been to get a share of
the meat, as Moriantsane is known to be liberal with any food that comes
into his hands. The culprit was bound hand and foot, and placed in the sun
to force him to pay a fine, but he continued to deny his guilt. His
mother, believing in the innocence of her son, now came forward, with her
hoe in hand, and, threatening to cut down any one who should dare to
interfere, untied the cords with which he had been bound and took him
home. This open defiance of authority was not resented by Moriantsane, but
referred to Sekeletu at Linyanti.
The following circumstance,
which happened here when I was present with Sekeletu, shows that the
simple mode of punishment, by forcing a criminal to work out a fine, did
not strike the Makololo mind until now. A stranger having visited Sesheke
for the purpose of barter, was robbed by one of the Makalaka of most of
his goods. The thief, when caught, confessed the theft, and that he had
given the articles to a person who had removed to a distance. The Makololo
were much enraged at the idea of their good name being compromised by this
treatment of a stranger. Their customary mode of punishing a crime which
causes much indignation is to throw the criminal into the river; but, as
this would not restore the lost property, they were sorely puzzled how to
act. The case was referred to me, and I solved the difficulty by paying
for the loss myself, and sentencing the thief to work out an equivalent
with his hoe in a garden. This system was immediately introduced, and
thieves are now sentenced to raise an amount of corn proportioned to their
offenses. Among the Bakwains, a woman who had stolen from the garden of
another was obliged to part with her own entirely: it became the property
of her whose field was injured by the crime.
There is no stated day of
rest in any part of this country, except the day after the appearance of
the new moon, and the people then refrain only from going to their
gardens. A curious custom, not to be found among the Bechuanas, prevails
among the black tribes beyond them. They watch most eagerly for the first
glimpse of the new moon, and, when they perceive the faint outline after
the sun has set deep in the west, they utter a loud shout of "Kua!" and
vociferate prayers to it. My men, for instance, called out, "Let our
journey with the white man be prosperous! Let our enemies perish, and the
children of Nake become rich! May he have plenty of meat on this journey!"
etc., etc.
I gave many public
addresses to the people of Sesheke under the outspreading
camel-thorn-tree, which serves as a shade to the kotla on the high bank of
the river. It was pleasant to see the long lines of men, women, and
children winding along from different quarters of the town, each party
following behind their respective head men. They often amounted to between
five and six hundred souls, and required an exertion of voice which
brought back the complaint for which I had got the uvula excised at the
Cape. They were always very attentive; and Moriantsane, in order, as he
thought, to please me, on one occasion rose up in the middle of the
discourse, and hurled his staff at the heads of some young fellows whom he
saw working with a skin instead of listening. My hearers sometimes put
very sensible questions on the subjects brought before them; at other
times they introduced the most frivolous nonsense immediately after
hearing the most solemn truths. Some begin to pray to Jesus in secret as
soon as they hear of the white man's God, with but little idea of what
they are about; and no doubt are heard by Him who, like a father, pitieth
his children. Others, waking by night, recollect what has been said about
the future world so clearly that they tell next day what a fright they got
by it, and resolve not to listen to the teaching again; and not a few keep
to the determination not to believe, as certain villagers in the south,
who put all their cocks to death because they crowed the words, "Tlang lo
rapeleng" -- "Come along to prayers".
On recovering partially
from a severe attack of fever which remained upon me ever since our
passing the village of Moremi on the Chobe, we made ready for our
departure up the river by sending messages before us to the villages to
prepare food. We took four elephants' tusks, belonging to Sekeletu, with
us, as a means of testing the difference of prices between the Portuguese,
whom we expected to reach, and the white traders from the south.
Moriantsane supplied us well with honey, milk, and meal. The rains were
just commencing in this district; but, though showers sufficient to lay
the dust had fallen, they had no influence whatever on the amount of water
in the river, yet never was there less in any part than three hundred
yards of a deep flowing stream.
Our progress up the river
was rather slow; this was caused by waiting opposite different villages
for supplies of food. We might have done with much less than we got; but
my Makololo man, Pitsane, knew of the generous orders of Sekeletu, and was
not at all disposed to allow them to remain a dead letter. The villages of
the Banyeti contributed large quantities of mosibe, a bright red bean
yielded by a large tree. The pulp inclosing the seed is not much thicker
than a red wafer, and is the portion used. It requires the addition of
honey to render it at all palatable.
To these were added great
numbers of the fruit which yields a variety of the nux vomica, from which
we derive that virulent poison strychnia. The pulp between the nuts is the
part eaten, and it is of a pleasant juicy nature, having a sweet acidulous
taste. The fruit itself resembles a large yellow orange, but the rind is
hard, and, with the pips and bark, contains much of the deadly poison.
They evince their noxious qualities by an intensely bitter taste. The
nuts, swallowed inadvertently, cause considerable pain, but not death; and
to avoid this inconvenience, the people dry the pulp before the fire, in
order to be able the more easily to get rid of the noxious seeds.
A much better fruit, called
mobola, was also presented to us. This bears, around a pretty large stone,
as much of the fleshy part as the common date, and it is stripped off the
seeds and preserved in bags in a similar manner to that fruit. Besides
sweetness, the mobola has the flavor of strawberries, with a touch of
nauseousness. We carried some of them, dried as provisions, more than a
hundred miles from this spot.
The next fruit, named
mamosho (mother of morning), is the most delicious of all. It is about the
size of a walnut, and, unlike most of the other uncultivated fruits, has a
seed no larger than that of a date. The fleshy part is juicy, and somewhat
like the cashew-apple, with a pleasant acidity added. Fruits similar to
those which are here found on trees are found on the plains of the
Kalahari, growing on mere herbaceous plants. There are several other
examples of a similar nature. Shrubs, well known as such in the south,
assume the rank of trees as we go to the north; and the change is quite
gradual as our latitude decreases, the gradations being herbaceous plants,
shrubs, bushes, small, then large trees. But it is questionable if, in the
cases of mamosho, mobola, and mawa, the tree and shrub are identical,
though the fruits so closely resemble each other; for I found both the
dwarf and tree in the same latitude. There is also a difference in the
leaves, and they bear at different seasons.
The banks of the river were
at this time appearing to greater advantage than before. Many trees were
putting on their fresh green leaves, though they had got no rain, their
lighter green contrasting beautifully with the dark motsouri, or moyela,
now covered with pink plums as large as cherries. The rapids, having
comparatively little water in them, rendered our passage difficult. The
canoes must never be allowed to come broadside on to the stream, for,
being flat-bottomed, they would, in that case, be at once capsized, and
every thing in them be lost.
The men work admirably, and
are always in good humor; they leap into the water without the least
hesitation, to save the canoe from being caught by eddies or dashed
against the rocks. Many parts were now quite shallow, and it required
great address and power in balancing themselves to keep the vessel free
from rocks, which lay just beneath the surface. We might have got deeper
water in the middle, but the boatmen always keep near the banks, on
account of danger from the hippopotami. But, though we might have had
deeper water farther out, I believe that no part of the rapids is very
deep. The river is spread out more than a mile, and the water flows
rapidly over the rocky bottom. The portions only three hundred yards wide
are very deep, and contain large volumes of flowing water in narrow
compass, which, when spread over the much larger surface at the rapids,
must be shallow. Still, remembering that this was the end of the dry
season, when such rivers as the Orange do not even contain a fifth part of
the water of the Chobe, the difference between the rivers of the north and
south must be sufficiently obvious.
The rapids are caused by
rocks of dark brown trap, or of hardened sandstone, stretching across the
stream. In some places they form miles of flat rocky bottom, with islets
covered with trees. At the cataracts noted in the map, the fall is from
four to six feet, and, in guiding up the canoe, the stem goes under the
water, and takes in a quantity before it can attain the higher level. We
lost many of our biscuits in the ascent through this. These rocks are
covered with a small, hard aquatic plant, which, when the surface is
exposed, becomes dry and crisp, crackling under the foot as if it
contained much stony matter in its tissue. It probably assists in
disintegrating the rocks; for, in parts so high as not to be much exposed
to the action of the water or the influence of the plant, the rocks are
covered with a thin black glaze.
In passing along under the
overhanging trees of the banks, we often saw the pretty turtle-doves
sitting peacefully on their nests above the roaring torrent. An ibis* had
perched her home on the end of a stump. Her loud, harsh scream of
"Wa-wa-wa", and the piping of the fish-hawk, are sounds which can never be
forgotten by any one who has sailed on the rivers north of 20 Deg. south.
If we step on shore, the `Charadrius caruncula', a species of plover, a
most plaguy sort of "public-spirited individual", follows you, flying
overhead, and is most persevering in its attempts to give fair warning to
all the animals within hearing to flee from the approaching danger.
The alarm-note,
"tinc-tinc-tinc", of another variety of the same family (`Pluvianus
armatus' of Burchell) has so much of a metallic ring, that this bird is
called "setula-tsipi", or hammering-iron. It is furnished with a sharp
spur on its shoulder, much like that on the heel of a cock, but scarcely
half an inch in length. Conscious of power, it may be seen chasing the
white-necked raven with great fury, and making even that comparatively
large bird call out from fear. It is this bird which is famed for its
friendship with the crocodile of the Nile by the name `siksak', and which
Mr. St. John actually saw performing the part of toothpicker to the ugly
reptile. They are frequently seen on the sand-banks with the alligator,
and, to one passing by, often appear as if on that reptile's back; but I
never had the good fortune to witness the operation described not only by
St. John and Geoffrey St. Hilaire, but also by Herodotus. However, that
which none of these authors knew my head boatman, Mashauana, stopped the
canoe to tell us, namely, that a water-turtle which, in trying to ascend a
steep bank to lay her eggs, had toppled on her back, thus enabling us to
capture her, was an infallible omen of good luck for our journey.
Among the forest-trees
which line the banks of the rocky parts of the Leeambye several new birds
were observed. Some are musical, and the songs are pleasant in contrast
with the harsh voice of the little green, yellow-shouldered parrots of the
country. There are also great numbers of jet-black weavers, with
yellowish-brown band on the shoulders. Here we saw, for the first time, a
pretty little bird, colored dark blue, except the wings and tail, which
were of a chocolate hue. From the tail two feathers are prolonged beyond
the rest six inches. Also, little birds colored white and black, of great
vivacity, and always in companies of six or eight together, and
various others. From want of books of reference, I could not decide
whether they were actually new to science.
Francolins and Guinea-fowl
abound along the banks; and on every dead tree and piece of rock may be
seen one or two species of the web-footed `Plotus', darter, or snake-bird.
They sit most of the day sunning themselves over the stream, sometimes
standing erect with their wings outstretched; occasionally they may be
seen engaged in fishing by diving, and, as they swim about, their bodies
are so much submerged that hardly any thing appears above the water but
their necks.
The chief time of feeding
is by night, and, as the sun declines, they may be seen in flocks flying
from their roosting-places to the fishing-grounds. This is a most
difficult bird to catch when disabled. It is thoroughly expert in diving
-- goes down so adroitly and comes up again in the most unlikely places,
that the people, though most skillful in the management of the canoes, can
rarely secure them. The rump of the darter is remarkably prolonged, and
capable of being bent, so as to act both as a rudder in swimming, and as a
lever to lift the bird high enough out of the water to give free scope to
its wings. It can rise at will from the water by means of this appendage.
The fine fish-hawk, with white head and neck, and reddish-chocolate
colored body, may also frequently be seen perched on the trees, and fish
are often found dead which have fallen victims to its talons. One most
frequently seen in this condition is itself a destroyer of fish. It is a
stout-bodied fish, about fifteen or eighteen inches long, of a light
yellow color, and gayly ornamented with stripes and spots.
It has a most imposing
array of sharp, conical teeth outside the lips -- objects of dread to the
fisherman, for it can use them effectually. One which we picked up dead
had killed itself by swallowing another fish, which, though too large for
its stomach and throat, could not be disgorged. This fish-hawk generally
kills more prey than it can devour. It eats a portion of the back of the
fish, and leaves the rest for the Barotse, who often had a race across the
river when they saw an abandoned morsel lying on the opposite sand-banks.
The hawk is, however, not always so generous, for, as I myself was a
witness on the Zouga, it sometimes plunders the purse of the pelican.
Soaring over head, and seeing this large, stupid bird fishing beneath, it
watches till a fine fish is safe in the pelican's pouch; then descending,
not very quickly, but with considerable noise of wing, the pelican looks
up to see what is the matter, and, as the hawk comes near, he supposes
that he is about to be killed, and roars out "Murder!" The opening of his
mouth enables the hawk to whisk the fish out of the pouch, upon which the
pelican does not fly away, but commences fishing again, the fright having
probably made him forget he had any thing in his purse.
A fish called mosheba,
about the size of a minnow, often skims along the surface for several
yards, in order to get out of the way of the canoe. It uses the pectoral
fins, as the flying-fish do, but never makes
a clean flight. It is rather a succession of hops along the surface, made
by the aid of the side fins. It never becomes large. Numbers of iguanos
(mpulu) sit sunning themselves on overhanging branches of the trees, and
splash into the water as we approach. They are highly esteemed as an
article of food, the flesh being tender and gelatinous. The chief boatman,
who occupies the stem, has in consequence a light javelin always at hand
to spear them if they are not quickly out of sight. These, and large
alligators gliding in from the banks with a heavy plunge as we come round
a sudden bend of the stream, were the occurrences of every hour as we sped
up the river.
The rapids in the part of
the river between Katima-molelo and Nameta are relieved by several reaches
of still, deep water, fifteen or twenty miles long. In these very large
herds of hippopotami are seen, and the deep furrows they make, in
ascending the banks to graze during the nights, are every where apparent.
They are guided back to the water by the scent, but a long continued
pouring rain makes it impossible for them to perceive, by that means, in
which direction the river lies, and they are found bewildered on the land.
The hunters take advantage of their helplessness on these occasions to
kill them.
It is impossible to judge
of the numbers in a herd, for they are almost always hidden beneath the
waters; but as they require to come up every few minutes to breathe, when
there is a constant succession of heads thrown up, then the herd is
supposed to be large. They love a still reach of the stream, as in the
more rapid parts of the channel they are floated down so quickly that much
exertion is necessary to regain the distance lost by frequently swimming
up again: such constant exertion disturbs them in their nap. They prefer
to remain by day in a drowsy, yawning state, and, though their eyes are
open, they take little notice of things at a distance. The males utter a
loud succession of snorting grunts, which may be heard a mile off. The
canoe in which I was, in passing over a wounded one, elicited a distinct
grunting, though the animal lay entirely under water.
The young, when very
little, take their stand on the neck of the dam, and the small head,
rising above the large, comes soonest to the surface. The dam, knowing the
more urgent need of her calf, comes more frequently to the surface when it
is in her care. But in the rivers of Londa, where they are much in danger
of being shot, even the hippopotamus gains wit by experience; for, while
those in the Zambesi put up their heads openly to blow, those referred to
keep their noses among water-plants, and breathe so quietly that one would
not dream of their existence in the river except by footprints on the
banks. |