Large Flocks Of Spur-Winged
Geese, Or Machikwe, Were Common.
This goose is said to lay her eggs
in March.
We saw also pairs of Egyptian geese, as well as a few of
the knob-nosed, or, as they are called in India, combed geese. When
the Egyptian geese, as at the present time, have young, the goslings
keep so steadily in the wake of their mother, that they look as if
they were a part of her tail; and both parents, when on land,
simulate lameness quite as well as our plovers, to draw off pursuers.
The ostrich also adopts the lapwing fashion, but no quadrupeds do:
they show fight to defend their young instead. In some places the
steep banks were dotted with the holes which lead into the nests of
bee-eaters. These birds came out in hundreds as we passed. When the
red-breasted species settle on the trees, they give them the
appearance of being covered with red foliage.
On the morning of the 12th October we passed through a wild, hilly
country, with fine wooded scenery on both sides, but thinly
inhabited. The largest trees were usually thorny acacias, of great
size and beautiful forms. As we sailed by several villages without
touching, the people became alarmed, and ran along the banks, spears
in hand. We employed one to go forward and tell Mpande of our
coming. This allayed their fears, and we went ashore, and took
breakfast near the large island with two villages on it, opposite the
mouth of the Zungwe, where we had left the Zambesi on our way up.
Mpande was sorry that he had no canoes of his own to sell, but he
would lend us two.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 268 of 505
Words from 72154 to 72441
of 136856
