u provides Rowers and a Herald--The River and Vicinity--
Hippopotamus-hunters--No healthy Location--Determine to go to Loanda--
Buffaloes, Elands, and Lions above Libonta--Interview with the Mambari--
Two Arabs from Zanzibar--Their Opinion of the Portuguese and the English
--Reach the Town of Ma-Sekeletu--Joy of the People at the first Visit of
their Chief--Return to Sesheke--Heathenism.

Having at last procured a sufficient number of canoes, we began to
ascend the river. I had the choice of the whole fleet, and selected the
best, though not the largest; it was thirty-four feet long by twenty
inches wide. I had six paddlers, and the larger canoe of Sekeletu had
ten. They stand upright, and keep the stroke with great precision,
though they change from side to side as the course demands. The men at
the head and stern are selected from the strongest and most expert of
the whole. The canoes, being flat bottomed, can go into very shallow
water; and whenever the men can feel the bottom they use the paddles,
which are about eight feet long, as poles to punt with. Our fleet
consisted of thirty-three canoes, and about one hundred and sixty men.
It was beautiful to see them skimming along so quickly, and keeping
the time so well. On land the Makalaka fear the Makololo; on water
the Makololo fear them, and can not prevent them from racing with
each other, dashing along at the top of their speed, and placing
their masters' lives in danger. In the event of a capsize, many of the
Makololo would sink like stones. A case of this kind happened on the
first day of our voyage up. The wind, blowing generally from the east,
raises very large waves on the Leeambye. An old doctor of the Makololo
had his canoe filled by one of these waves, and, being unable to swim,
was lost. The Barotse who were in the canoe with him saved themselves
by swimming, and were afraid of being punished with death in the evening
for not saving the doctor as well. Had he been a man of more influence,
they certainly would have suffered death.

We proceeded rapidly up the river, and I felt the pleasure of looking
on lands which had never been seen by a European before. The river is,
indeed, a magnificent one, often more than a mile broad, and adorned
with many islands of from three to five miles in length. Both islands
and banks are covered with forest, and most of the trees on the brink of
the water send down roots from their branches like the banian, or 'Ficus
I