The immense depth of the Lake prevents the rays of the
sun from raising the temperature as high as that of the Shire and
Zambesi; and the crocodiles, having always clear water in the Lake,
and abundance of fish, rarely attack man; many of these reptiles
could be seen basking on the rocks.
A day's march beyond Molamba brought us to the lakelet Chia, which
lies parallel with the Lake. It is three or four miles long, by from
one to one and a half broad, and communicates with the Lake by an arm
of good depth, but with some rocks in it. As we passed up between
the Lake and the eastern shore of this lakelet, we did not see any
streams flowing into it. It is quite remarkable for the abundance of
fish; and we saw upwards of fifty large canoes engaged in the
fishery, which is carried on by means of hand-nets with side-frame
poles about seven feet long. These nets are nearly identical with
those now in use in Normandy - the difference being that the African
net has a piece of stick lashed across the handle-ends of the side
poles to keep them steady, which is a great improvement. The fish
must be very abundant to be scooped out of the water in such
quantities as we saw, and by so many canoes. There is quite a trade
here in dried fish.
The country around is elevated, undulating, and very extensively
planted with cassava. The hoe in use has a handle of four feet in
length, and the iron part is exactly of the same form as that in the
country of the Bechuanas. The baskets here, which are so closely
woven together as to hold beer, are the same with those employed to
hold milk in Kaffirland - a thousand miles distant.
Marching on foot is peculiarly conducive to meditation - one is glad
of any subject to occupy the mind, and relieve the monotony of the
weary treadmill-like trudge-trudging. This Chia net brought to our
mind that the smith's bellows made here of a goatskin bag, with
sticks along the open ends, are the same as those in use in the
Bechuana country far to the south-west. These, with the long-handled
hoe, may only show that each successive horde from north to south
took inventions with it from the same original source. Where that
source may have been is probably indicated by another pair of
bellows, which we observed below the Victoria Falls, being found in
Central India and among the Gipsies of Europe.
Men in remote times may have had more highly-developed instincts,
which enabled them to avoid or use poisons; but the late Archbishop
Whately has proved, that wholly untaught savages never could invent
anything, or even subsist at all.
