This Was Midwinter, But The Sun Is Always Hot By Day Here,
Though The Nights Are Cold.
Five Zambesi men, who had been all their
lives accustomed to great heavy canoes, - the chief recommendation of
which
Is said to be, that they can be run against a rock with the
full force of the current without injury - were very desirous to show
how much better they could manage our boat than the Makololo; three
jumped into her when our backs were turned, and two hauled her up a
little way; the tide caught her bow, we heard a shout of distress,
the rope was out of their hands in a moment, and there she was,
bottom upwards; a turn or two in an eddy, and away she went, like an
arrow, down the Cataracts. One of the men in swimming ashore saved a
rifle. The whole party ran with all their might along the bank, but
never more did we see our boat.
The five performers in this catastrophe approached with penitential
looks. They had nothing to say, nor had we. They bent down slowly,
and touched our feet with both hands. "Ku kuata moendo" - "to catch
the foot" - is their way of asking forgiveness. It was so like what
we have seen a little child do - try to bring a dish unbidden to its
papa, and letting it fall, burst into a cry of distress - that they
were only sentenced to go back to the ship, get provisions, and, in
the ensuing journey on foot, carry as much as they could, and thus
make up for the loss of the boat.
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