Many Of The African Women Are Particular About The Water They Use For
Drinking And Cooking, And Prefer That Which
Is filtered through sand.
To secure this, they scrape holes in the sandbanks beside the stream,
and scoop up the
Water, which slowly filters through, rather than
take it from the equally clear and limpid river. This practice is
common in the Zambesi, the Rovuma, and Lake Nyassa; and some of the
Portuguese at Tette have adopted the native custom, and send canoes
to a low island in the middle of the river for water. Chitora's
people also obtained their supply from shallow wells in the sandy bed
of a small rivulet close to the village. The habit may have arisen
from observing the unhealthiness of the main stream at certain
seasons. During nearly nine months in the year, ordure is deposited
around countless villages along the thousands of miles drained by the
Zambesi. When the heavy rains come down, and sweep the vast fetid
accumulation into the torrents, the water is polluted with filth;
and, but for the precaution mentioned, the natives would prove
themselves as little fastidious as those in London who drink the
abomination poured into the Thames by Reading and Oxford. It is no
wonder that sailors suffered so much from fever after drinking
African river water, before the present admirable system of
condensing it was adopted in our navy.
The scent of man is excessively terrible to game of all kinds, much
more so, probably, than the sight of him.
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