During The First Twenty Miles
We Crossed Many Small, But Now Swollen Streams, Having The Usual Boggy Banks,
And Wherever The Water Had Stood For Any Length Of Time
It Was Discolored With Rust Of Iron.
We saw a "nakong" antelope one day,
a rare sight in this quarter; and many new and pretty flowers
adorned the valleys.
We could observe the difference in the seasons in
our northing in company with the sun. Summer was now nearly over at Kuruman,
and far advanced at Linyanti, but here we were in the middle of it;
fruits, which we had eaten ripe on the Leeambye, were here quite green;
but we were coming into the region where the inhabitants are favored
with two rainy seasons and two crops, i.e., when the sun is going south,
and when he comes back on his way to the north, as was the case at present.
On the 8th, one of the men had left an ounce or two of powder
at our sleeping-place, and went back several miles for it.
My clothing being wet from crossing a stream, I was compelled to wait for him;
had I been moving in the sun I should have felt no harm, but the inaction
led to a violent fit of fever. The continuance of this attack
was a source of much regret, for we went on next day to a small rivulet
called Chihune, in a lovely valley, and had, for a wonder,
a clear sky and a clear moon; but such was the confusion
produced in my mind by the state of my body, that I could scarcely manage,
after some hours' trial, to get a lunar observation in which
I could repose confidence. The Chihune flows into the Longe,
and that into the Chihombo, a feeder of the Kasai. Those who know
the difficulties of taking altitudes, times, and distances,
and committing all of them to paper, will sympathize with me
in this and many similar instances. While at Chihune, the men of a village
brought wax for sale, and, on finding that we wished honey,
went off and soon brought a hive. All the bees in the country
are in possession of the natives, for they place hives
sufficient for them all. After having ascertained this,
we never attended the call of the honey-guide, for we were sure
it would only lead us to a hive which we had no right to touch.
The bird continues its habit of inviting attention to the honey,
though its services in this district are never actually needed.
My Makololo lamented that they never knew before that wax could be sold
for any thing of value.
As we traverse a succession of open lawns and deep forests,
it is interesting to observe something like instinct developed even in trees.
One which, when cut, emits a milky juice, if met with on the open lawns,
grows as an ordinary umbrageous tree, and shows no disposition
to be a climber; when planted in a forest it still takes the same form,
then sends out a climbing branch, which twines round another tree
until it rises thirty or forty feet, or to the level of the other trees,
and there spreads out a second crown where it can enjoy
a fair share of the sun's rays.
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