ce of recent fracture or disturbance of rocks
to be seen in the central country, except the falls of Gonye; nor is
there any evidence or tradition of hurricanes.

I left Naliele on the 13th of August, and, when proceeding along the
shore at midday, a hippopotamus struck the canoe with her forehead,
lifting one half of it quite out of the water, so as nearly to overturn
it. The force of the butt she gave tilted Mashauana out into the river;
the rest of us sprang to the shore, which was only about ten yards off.
Glancing back, I saw her come to the surface a short way off, and look
to the canoe, as if to see if she had done much mischief. It was a
female, whose young one had been speared the day before. No damage was
done except wetting person and goods. This is so unusual an occurrence,
when the precaution is taken to coast along the shore, that my men
exclaimed, "Is the beast mad?" There were eight of us in the canoe at
the time, and the shake it received shows the immense power of this
animal in the water.

On reaching Gonye, Mokwala, the head man, having presented me with a
tusk, I gave it to Pitsane, as he was eagerly collecting ivory for the
Loanda market. The rocks of Gonye are reddish gray sandstone, nearly
horizontal, and perforated by madrepores, the holes showing the
course of the insect in different directions. The rock itself has
been impregnated with iron, and that hardened, forms a glaze on the
surface--an appearance common to many of the rocks of this country.

AUGUST 22D. This is the end of winter. The trees which line the banks
begin to bud and blossom, and there is some show of the influence of the
new sap, which will soon end in buds that push off the old foliage by
assuming a very bright orange color. This orange is so bright that I
mistook it for masses of yellow blossom. There is every variety of shade
in the leaves--yellow, purple, copper, liver-color, and even inky black.

Having got the loan of other canoes from Mpololo, and three oxen as
provision for the way, which made the number we had been presented with
in the Barotse valley amount to thirteen, we proceeded down the river
toward Sesheke, and were as much struck as formerly with the noble
river. The whole scenery is lovely, though the atmosphere is murky in
consequence of the continuance of the smoky tinge of winter.

This peculiar tinge of the atmosphere was observed every winter at
Kolobeng, but it was not so observable in Londa as in