No rain has fallen here,
so it is excessively hot. The trees have put on their gayest dress,
and many flowers adorn the landscape, yet the heat makes all the leaves
droop at midday and look languid for want of rain. If the country
increases as much in beauty in front as it has done within
the last four degrees of latitude, it will be indeed a lovely land.
We all felt great lassitude in traveling. The atmosphere is oppressive
both in cloud and sunshine. The evaporation from the river
must be excessively great, and I feel as if the fluids of the system
joined in the general motion of watery vapor upward,
as enormous quantities of water must be drunk to supply its place.
When under way our usual procedure is this: We get up a little before
five in the morning; it is then beginning to dawn. While I am dressing,
coffee is made; and, having filled my pannikin, the remainder is handed
to my companions, who eagerly partake of the refreshing beverage.
The servants are busy loading the canoes, while the principal men
are sipping the coffee, and, that being soon over, we embark.
The next two hours are the most pleasant part of the day's sail.
The men paddle away most vigorously; the Barotse, being a tribe of boatmen,
have large, deeply-developed chests and shoulders, with indifferent
lower extremities. They often engage in loud scolding of each other
in order to relieve the tedium of their work.
