Another Incident, Which Occurred At The Confluence Of The Leeba And Leeambye,
May Be Mentioned Here, As Showing A More Vivid Perception
Of The Existence Of Spiritual Beings, And Greater Proneness To Worship
Than Among The Bechuanas.
Having taken lunar observations in the morning,
I was waiting for a meridian altitude of the sun for the latitude;
my chief boatman was sitting by, in order to pack up the instruments
as soon as I had finished; there was a large halo, about 20 Deg.
In diameter,
round the sun; thinking that the humidity of the atmosphere,
which this indicated, might betoken rain, I asked him if his experience
did not lead him to the same view. "Oh no," replied he;
"it is the Barimo (gods or departed spirits), who have called a picho;
don't you see they have the Lord (sun) in the centre?"
While still at Naliele I walked out to Katongo (lat. 15d 16' 33"),
on the ridge which bounds the valley of the Barotse in that direction,
and found it covered with trees. It is only the commencement
of the lands which are never inundated; their gentle rise
from the dead level of the valley much resembles the edge of the Desert
in the valley of the Nile. But here the Banyeti have fine gardens, and raise
great quantities of maize, millet, and native corn (`Holcus sorghum'),
of large grain and beautifully white. They grow, also,
yams, sugar-cane, the Egyptian arum, sweet potato (`Convolulus batata'),
two kinds of manioc or cassava (`Jatropha manihot' and `J. utilissima',
a variety containing scarcely any poison), besides pumpkins, melons,
beans, and ground-nuts.
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