And When Ponuane, Who Had Lately Headed
A Foray There, Proposed That I Should Carry Canoes Along That Side
Till
We reached the spot where the Leeambye becomes broad and placid again,
others declared that, from the difficulties he himself
Had experienced
in forcing the men of his expedition to do this, they believed that mine
would be sure to desert me if I attempted to impose such a task upon them.
Another objection to traveling on either bank of the river
was the prevalence of the tsetse, which is so abundant that the inhabitants
can keep no domestic animals except goats.
While pondering over these different paths, I could not help regretting
my being alone. If I had enjoyed the company of my former companion,
Mr. Oswell, one of us might have taken the Zambesi, and the other gone
by way of Zanzibar. The latter route was decidedly the easiest,
because all the inland tribes were friendly, while the tribes
in the direction of the Zambesi were inimical, and I should now be obliged
to lead a party, which the Batoka of that country view as hostile invaders,
through an enemy's land; but, as the prospect of permanent water-conveyance
was good, I decided on going down the Zambesi, and keeping on the north bank,
because, in the map given by Bowditch, Tete, the farthest inland
station of the Portuguese, is erroneously placed on that side.
Being near the end of September, the rains were expected daily;
the clouds were collecting, and the wind blew strongly from the east,
but it was excessively hot.
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