ese extol its timber
as excellent for building boats, as it does not soon rot in water.

On the 6th we came to the village of Boroma, which is situated among a
number of others, each surrounded by extensive patches of cultivation.
On the opposite side of the river we have a great cluster of conical
hills called Chorichori. Boroma did not make his appearance, but sent
a substitute who acted civilly. I sent Sekwebu in the morning to
state that we intended to move on; his mother replied that, as she had
expected that we should remain, no food was ready, but she sent a basket
of corn and a fowl. As an excuse why Boroma did not present himself, she
said that he was seized that morning by the Barimo, which probably meant
that his lordship was drunk.

We marched along the river to a point opposite the hill Pinkwe (lat. 15d
39' 11" S., long. 32d 5' E.), but the late abundant rains now flooded
the Zambesi again, and great quantities of wreck appeared upon the
stream. It is probable that frequent freshets, caused by the rains on
this side of the ridge, have prevented the Portuguese near the coast
from recognizing the one peculiar flood of inundation observed in
the interior, and caused the belief that it is flooded soon after the
commencement of the rains. The course of the Nile being in the opposite
direction to this, it does not receive these subsidiary waters, and
hence its inundation is recognized all the way along its course. If the
Leeambye were prolonged southward into the Cape Colony, its flood would
be identical with that of the Nile. It would not be influenced by any
streams in the Kalahari, for there, as in a corresponding part of the
Nile, there would be no feeders. It is to be remembered that the great
ancient river which flowed to the lake at Boochap took this course
exactly, and probably flowed thither until the fissure of the falls was
made.

This flood having filled the river, we found the numerous rivulets which
flow into it filled also, and when going along the Zambesi, we lost so
much time in passing up each little stream till we could find a ford
about waist deep, and then returning to the bank, that I resolved
to leave the river altogether, and strike away to the southeast. We
accordingly struck off when opposite the hill Pinkwe, and came into a
hard Mopane country. In a hole of one of the mopane-trees I noticed that
a squirrel ('Sciurus cepapi') had placed a great number of fresh leaves
over a store of s