declined to sell a harpoon, because they could not now get the
milola bark from the coast on account of Mariano's war. He expressed
some doubts about our being children of the same Almighty Father,
remarking that "they could not become white, let them wash ever so much."
We made him a present of a bit of cloth, and he very generously gave us
in return some fine fresh fish and Indian corn.

The heat of the weather steadily increases during this month (August),
and foggy mornings are now rare. A strong breeze ending in a gale blows
up stream every night. It came in the afternoon a few weeks ago, then
later, and at present its arrival is near midnight; it makes our frail
cabin-doors fly open before it, but continues only for a short time, and
is succeeded by a dead calm. Game becomes more abundant; near our
wooding-places we see herds of zebras, both Burchell's and the mountain
variety, pallahs (_Antelope melampus_), waterbuck, and wild hogs, with
the spoor of buffaloes and elephants.

Shiramba Dembe, on the right bank, is deserted; a few old iron guns show
where a rebel stockade once stood; near the river above this, stands a
magnificent Baobab hollowed out into a good-sized hut, with bark inside
as well as without. The old oaks in Sherwood Forest, when hollow, have
the inside dead or rotten; but the Baobab, though stripped of its bark
outside, and hollowed to a cavity inside, has the power of exuding new
bark from its substance to both the outer and inner surfaces; so, a hut
made like that in the oak called the "Forest Queen," in Sherwood, would
soon all be lined with bark.

The portions of the river called Shigogo and Shipanga are bordered by a
low level expanse of marshy country, with occasional clumps of palm-trees
and a few thorny acacias. The river itself spreads out to a width of
from three to four miles, with many islands, among which it is difficult
to navigate, except when the river is in flood. In front, a range of
high hills from the north-east crosses and compresses it into a deep
narrow channel, called the Lupata Gorge. The Portuguese thought the
steamer would not stem the current here; but as it was not more than
about three knots, and as there was a strong breeze in our favour, steam
and sails got her through with ease. Heavy-laden canoes take two days to
go up this pass. A current sweeps round the little rocky promontories
Chifura and Kangomba, forming whirlpools and eddies dangerous for the
c