We were much detained by rains, a heavy shower without wind
falling every morning about daybreak; it often cleared up after that,
admitting of our moving on a few miles.
A continuous rain of several hours
then set in. The wind up to this point was always from the east,
but both rain and wind now came so generally from the west,
or opposite direction to what we had been accustomed to in the interior,
that we were obliged to make our encampment face the east,
in order to have them in our backs. The country adjacent to the river
abounds in large trees; but the population is so numerous that,
those left being all green, it is difficult to get dry firewood.
On coming to some places, too, we were warned by the villagers
not to cut the trees growing in certain spots, as they contained
the graves of their ancestors. There are many tamarind-trees,
and another very similar, which yields a fruit as large as a small walnut,
of which the elephants are very fond. It is called Motondo,
and the Portuguese extol its timber as excellent for building boats,
as it does not soon rot in water.
On the 6th we came to the village of Boroma, which is situated among
a number of others, each surrounded by extensive patches of cultivation.
On the opposite side of the river we have a great cluster of conical hills
called Chorichori. Boroma did not make his appearance,
but sent a substitute who acted civilly. I sent Sekwebu in the morning
to state that we intended to move on; his mother replied that,
as she had expected that we should remain, no food was ready, but she sent
a basket of corn and a fowl. As an excuse why Boroma did not present himself,
she said that he was seized that morning by the Barimo, which probably meant
that his lordship was drunk.
We marched along the river to a point opposite the hill Pinkwe
(lat. 15d 39' 11" S., long. 32d 5' E.), but the late abundant rains
now flooded the Zambesi again, and great quantities of wreck
appeared upon the stream. It is probable that frequent freshets,
caused by the rains on this side of the ridge, have prevented the Portuguese
near the coast from recognizing the one peculiar flood of inundation
observed in the interior, and caused the belief that it is flooded
soon after the commencement of the rains. The course of the Nile
being in the opposite direction to this, it does not receive
these subsidiary waters, and hence its inundation is recognized
all the way along its course. If the Leeambye were prolonged southward
into the Cape Colony, its flood would be identical with that of the Nile.
It would not be influenced by any streams in the Kalahari, for there,
as in a corresponding part of the Nile, there would be no feeders.
It is to be remembered that the great ancient river which flowed
to the lake at Boochap took this course exactly, and probably flowed thither
until the fissure of the falls was made.
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