They Were Driving A Trade In Slaves Also,
Which Was Something New In This Part Of Africa, And Likely Soon To
Change The Character Of The Inhabitants.
These men had been living
in clover, and were uncommonly fat and plump.
When sent to trade,
slaves wisely never stint themselves of beer or anything else, which
their master's goods can buy.
The temperature of the Zambesi had increased 10 degrees since August,
being now 80 degrees. The air was as high as 96 degrees after
sunset; and, the vicinity of the water being the coolest part, we
usually made our beds close by the river's brink, though there in
danger of crocodiles. Africa differs from India in the air always
becoming cool and refreshing long before the sun returns, and there
can be no doubt that we can in this country bear exposure to the sun,
which would be fatal in India. It is probably owing to the greater
dryness of the African atmosphere that sunstroke is so rarely met
with. In twenty-two years Dr. Livingstone never met or heard of a
single case, though the protective head-dresses of India are rarely
seen.
When the water is nearly at its lowest, we occasionally meet with
small rapids which are probably not in existence during the rest of
the year. Having slept opposite the rivulet Bume, which comes from
the south, we passed the island of Nakansalo, and went down the
rapids of the same name on the 17th, and came on the morning of the
19th to the more serious ones of Nakabele, at the entrance to Kariba.
The Makololo guided the canoes admirably through the opening in the
dyke. When we entered the gorge we came on upwards of thirty
hippopotami: a bank near the entrance stretches two-thirds across
the narrowed river, and in the still place behind it they were
swimming about. Several were in the channel, and our canoe-men were
afraid to venture down among them, because, as they affirm, there is
commonly an ill-natured one in a herd, which takes a malignant
pleasure in upsetting canoes. Two or three boys on the rocks
opposite amused themselves by throwing stones at the frightened
animals, and hit several on the head. It would have been no
difficult matter to have shot the whole herd. We fired a few shots
to drive them off; the balls often glance off the skull, and no more
harm is done than when a schoolboy gets a bloody nose; we killed one,
which floated away down the rapid current, followed by a number of
men on the bank. A native called to us from the left bank, and said
that a man on his side knew how to pray to the Kariba gods, and
advised us to hire him to pray for our safety, while we were going
down the rapids, or we should certainly all be drowned. No one ever
risked his life in Kariba without first paying the river-doctor, or
priest, for his prayers. Our men asked if there was a cataract in
front, but he declined giving any information; they were not on his
side of the river; if they would come over, then he might be able to
tell them. We crossed, but he went off to the village. We then
landed and walked over the hills to have a look at Karaba before
trusting our canoes in it. The current was strong, and there was
broken water in some places, but the channel was nearly straight, and
had no cataract, so we determined to risk it. Our men visited the
village while we were gone, and were treated to beer and tobacco.
The priest who knows how to pray to the god that rules the rapids
followed us with several of his friends, and they were rather
surprised to see us pass down in safety, without the aid of his
intercession. The natives who followed the dead hippopotamus caught
it a couple of miles below, and, having made it fast to a rock, were
sitting waiting for us on the bank beside the dead animal. As there
was a considerable current there, and the rocky banks were unfit for
our beds, we took the hippopotamus in tow, telling the villagers to
follow, and we would give them most of the meat. The crocodiles
tugged so hard at the carcass, that we were soon obliged to cast it
adrift, to float down in the current, to avoid upsetting the canoe.
We had to go on so far before finding a suitable spot to spend the
night in, that the natives concluded we did not intend to share the
meat with them, and returned to the village. We slept two nights at
the place where the hippopotamus was cut up. The crocodiles had a
busy time of it in the dark, tearing away at what was left in the
river, and thrashing the water furiously with their powerful tails.
The hills on both sides of Kariba are much like those of Kebrabasa,
the strata tilted and twisted in every direction, with no level
ground.
Although the hills confine the Zambesi within a narrow channel for a
number of miles, there are no rapids beyond those near the entrance.
The river is smooth and apparently very deep. Only one single human
being was seen in the gorge, the country being too rough for culture.
Some rocks in the water, near the outlet of Kariba, at a distance
look like a fort; and such large masses dislocated, bent, and even
twisted to a remarkable degree, at once attest some tremendous
upheaving and convulsive action of nature, which probably caused
Kebrabasa, Kariba, and the Victoria Falls to assume their present
forms; it took place after the formation of the coal, that mineral
having then been tilted up. We have probably nothing equal to it in
the present quiet operations of nature.
On emerging we pitched our camp by a small stream, the Pendele, a few
miles below the gorge.
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