We Spent The Night Of The 28th July High Above The
Level Of The Sea, By The Rivulet Tyotyo, Near
Tabacheu or
Chirebuechina, names both signifying white mountain; in the morning
hoar frost covered the ground, and thin ice was
On the pools.
Skirting the southern flank of Tabacheu, we soon passed from the
hills on to the portion of the vast table-land called Mataba, and
looking back saw all the way across the Zambesi valley to the lofty
ridge some thirty miles off, which, coming from the Mashona, a
country in the S.E., runs to the N.W. to join the ridge at the angle
of which are the Victoria Falls, and then bends far to the N.E. from
the same point. Only a few years since these extensive highlands
were peopled by the Batoka; numerous herds of cattle furnished
abundance of milk, and the rich soil amply repaid the labour of the
husbandman; now large herds of buffaloes, zebras, and antelopes
fatten on the excellent pasture; and on that land, which formerly
supported multitudes, not a man is to been seen. In travelling from
Monday morning till late on Saturday afternoon, all the way from
Tabacheu to Moachemba, which is only twenty-one miles of latitude
from the Victoria Falls, and constantly passing the ruined sites of
utterly deserted Botoka villages, we did not fall in with a single
person. The Batoka were driven out of their noble country by the
invasions of Moselekatse and Sebetuane.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 198 of 505
Words from 53353 to 53603
of 136856
