Deep gullies,
full of DISCOLORED water, completed the cooling process.
We passed many villages during this drenching, one of which
possessed a flock of sheep; and after six hours we came to a stand
near the River Quango (lat. 9d 53' S., long. 18d 37' E.),
which may be called the boundary of the Portuguese claims to territory
on the west. As I had now no change of clothing, I was glad to cower
under the shelter of my blanket, thankful to God for his goodness
in bringing us so far without losing one of the party.
4TH APRIL. We were now on the banks of the Quango,
a river one hundred and fifty yards wide, and very deep.
The water was discolored - a circumstance which we had observed
in no river in Londa or in the Makololo country. This fine river
flows among extensive meadows clothed with gigantic grass and reeds,
and in a direction nearly north.
The Quango is said by the natives to contain many venomous water-snakes,
which congregate near the carcass of any hippopotamus
that may be killed in it. If this is true, it may account
for all the villages we saw being situated far from its banks.
We were advised not to sleep near it; but, as we were anxious
to cross to the western side, we tried to induce some of the Bashinje
to lend us canoes for the purpose.
