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.
