The Bush Being Very Dense And High,
We Were Going Along Among The Trees, When Three Buffaloes,
Which We Had Unconsciously Passed Above The Wind, Thought That They Were
Surrounded By Men, And Dashed Through Our Line.
My ox set off at a gallop,
and when I could manage to glance back, I saw one of the men up in the air
about five feet above a buffalo, which was tearing along with
a stream of blood running down his flank.
When I got back to the poor fellow,
I found that he had lighted on his face, and, though he had been carried
on the horns of the buffalo about twenty yards before getting the final toss,
the skin was not pierced nor was a bone broken. When the beasts appeared,
he had thrown down his load and stabbed one in the side.
It turned suddenly upon him, and, before he could use a tree for defense,
carried him off. We shampooed him well, and then went on,
and in about a week he was able to engage in the hunt again.
At Zumbo we had entered upon old gray sandstone, with shingle in it,
dipping generally toward the south, and forming the bed of the river.
The Zambesi is very broad here, but contains many inhabited islands.
We slept opposite one on the 16th called Shibanga. The nights are warm,
the temperature never falling below 80 Deg.; it was 91 Deg. even at sunset.
One can not cool the water by a wet towel round the vessel,
and we feel no pleasure in drinking warm water, though the heat makes us
imbibe large quantities. We often noticed lumps of a froth-like substance
on the bushes as large as cricket-balls, which we could not explain.
On the morning of the 17th we were pleased to see a person coming
from the island of Shibanga with jacket and hat on. He was quite black,
but had come from the Portuguese settlement at Tete or Nyungwe;
and now, for the first time, we understood that the Portuguese settlement
was on the other bank of the river, and that they had been fighting
with the natives for the last two years. We had thus got into
the midst of a Caffre war, without any particular wish to be on either side.
He advised us to cross the river at once, as Mpende lived on this side.
We had been warned by the guides of Mburuma against him,
for they said that if we could get past Mpende we might reach the white men,
but that he was determined that no white man should pass him.
Wishing to follow this man's advice, we proposed to borrow his canoes;
but, being afraid to offend the lords of the river, he declined.
The consequence was, we were obliged to remain on the enemy's side.
The next island belonged to a man named Zungo, a fine, frank fellow,
who brought us at once a present of corn, bound in a peculiar way in grass.
He freely accepted our apology for having no present to give in return,
as he knew that there were no goods in the interior, and, besides,
sent forward a recommendation to his brother-in-law Pangola.
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