These, According To Intemese,
Are At Present Impassable On Account Of Being Thigh Deep.
The Plains Are So Perfectly Level That Rain-Water, Which This Was,
Stands Upon Them For Months Together.
They were not flooded by the Leeba,
for that was still far within its banks.
Here and there,
dotted over the surface, are little islands, on which grow
stunted date-bushes and scraggy trees. The plains themselves are covered
with a thick sward of grass, which conceals the water, and makes the flats
appear like great pale yellow-colored prairie-lands, with a clear horizon,
except where interrupted here and there by trees. The clear rain-water
must have stood some time among the grass, for great numbers of lotus-flowers
were seen in full blow; and the runs of water tortoises and crabs
were observed; other animals also, which prey on the fish that find their way
to the plains.
The continual splashing of the oxen keeps the feet of the rider
constantly wet, and my men complain of the perpetual moisture of the paths
by which we have traveled in Londa as softening their horny soles.
The only information we can glean is from Intemese, who points out
the different localities as we pass along, and among the rest
"Mokala a Mama", his "mamma's home". It was interesting
to hear this tall gray-headed man recall the memories of boyhood.
All the Makalaka children cleave to the mother in cases of separation,
or removal from one part of the country to another.
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