The
Chief Rock Is Syenite, Some Portions Of Which Have A Beautiful Blue
Tinge Like Lapis Lazuli Diffused Through Them;
Others are grey.
Blocks of granite also abound, of a pinkish tinge; and these with
metamorphic rocks, contorted, twisted, and
Thrown into every
conceivable position, afford a picture of dislocation or
unconformability which would gladden a geological lecturer's heart;
but at high flood this rough channel is all smoothed over, and it
then conforms well with the river below it, which is half a mile
wide. In the dry season the stream runs at the bottom of a narrow
and deep groove, whose sides are polished and fluted by the boiling
action of the water in flood, like the rims of ancient Eastern wells
by the draw-ropes. The breadth of the groove is often not more than
from forty to sixty yards, and it has some sharp turnings, double
channels, and little cataracts in it. As we steamed up, the masts of
the "Ma Robert," though some thirty feet high, did not reach the
level of the flood-channel above, and the man in the chains sung out,
"No bottom at ten fathoms." Huge pot-holes, as large as draw-wells,
had been worn in the sides, and were so deep that in some instances,
when protected from the sun by overhanging boulders, the water in
them was quite cool. Some of these holes had been worn right
through, and only the side next the rock remained; while the sides of
the groove of the flood-channel were polished as smooth as if they
had gone through the granite-mills of Aberdeen. The pressure of the
water must be enormous to produce this polish. It had wedged round
pebbles into chinks and crannies of the rocks so firmly that, though
they looked quite loose, they could not be moved except with a
hammer. The mighty power of the water here seen gave us an idea of
what is going on in thousands of cataracts in the world. All the
information we had been able to obtain from our Portuguese friends
amounted to this, that some three or four detached rocks jutted out
of the river in Kebrabasa, which, though dangerous to the cumbersome
native canoes, could be easily passed by a steamer, and that if one
or two of these obstructions were blasted away with gunpowder, no
difficulty would hereafter be experienced. After we had painfully
explored seven or eight miles of the rapid, we returned to the vessel
satisfied that much greater labour was requisite for the mere
examination of the cataracts than our friends supposed necessary to
remove them; we therefore went down the river for fresh supplies, and
made preparation for a more serious survey of this region.
The steamer having returned from the bar, we set out on the 22nd of
November to examine the rapids of Kebrabasa. We reached the foot of
the hills again, late in the afternoon of the 24th, and anchored in
the stream. Canoe-men never sleep on the river, but always spend the
night on shore. The natives on the right bank, in the country called
Shidima, who are Banyai, and even at this short distance from Tette,
independent, and accustomed to lord it over Portuguese traders,
wondered what could be our object in remaining afloat, and were
naturally suspicious at our departing from the universal custom.
They hailed us from the bank in the evening with "Why don't you come
and sleep onshore like other people?"
The answer they received from our Makololo, who now felt as
independent as the Banyai, was, "We are held to the bottom with iron;
you may see we are not like your Bazungu."
This hint, a little amplified, saved us from the usual exactions. It
is pleasant to give a present, but that pleasure the Banyai usually
deny to strangers by making it a fine, and demanding it in such a
supercilious way, that only a sorely cowed trader could bear it.
They often refuse to touch what is offered - throw it down and leave
it - sneer at the trader's slaves, and refuse a passage until the
tribute is raised to the utmost extent of his means.
Leaving the steamer next morning, we proceeded on foot, accompanied
by a native Portuguese and his men and a dozen Makololo, who carried
our baggage. The morning was pleasant, the hills on our right
furnished for a time a delightful shade; but before long the path
grew frightfully rough, and the hills no longer shielded us from the
blazing sun. Scarcely a vestige of a track was now visible; and,
indeed, had not our guide assured us to the contrary, we should have
been innocent of even the suspicion of a way along the patches of
soft yielding sand, and on the great rocks over which we so painfully
clambered. These rocks have a singular appearance, from being
dislocated and twisted in every direction, and covered with a thin
black glaze, as if highly polished and coated with lamp-black
varnish. This seems to have been deposited while the river was in
flood, for it covers only those rocks which lie between the highest
water-mark and a line about four feet above the lowest. Travellers
who have visited the rapids of the Orinoco and the Congo say that the
rocks there have a similar appearance, and it is attributed to some
deposit from the water, formed only when the current is strong. This
may account for it in part here, as it prevails only where the narrow
river is confined between masses of rock, backed by high hills, and
where the current in floods is known to be the strongest; and it does
not exist where the rocks are only on one side, with a sandy beach
opposite, and a broad expanse of river between. The hot rocks burnt
the thick soles of our men's feet, and sorely fatigued ourselves.
Our first day's march did not exceed four miles in a straight line,
and that we found more than enough to be pleasant.
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