The Principal Hills On Our Right, As We Look Up
Stream, Are From Six To Twelve Miles Away, And Occasionally They Send
Down Spurs To The River, With Brooks Flowing Through Their Narrow
Valleys.
The banks of the Zambesi show two well-defined terraces;
the first, or lowest, being usually narrow, and of great fertility,
while the upper one is a dry grassy plain, a thorny jungle, or a
mopane (Bauhinia) forest.
One of these plains, near the Kafue, is
covered with the large stumps and trunks of a petrified forest. We
halted a couple of days by the fine stream Sinjere, which comes from
the Chiroby-roby hills, about eight miles to the north. Many lumps
of coal, brought down by the rapid current, lie in its channel. The
natives never seem to have discovered that coal would burn, and, when
informed of the fact, shook their heads, smiled incredulously, and
said "Kodi" (really), evidently regarding it as a mere traveller's
tale. They were astounded to see it burning freely on our fire of
wood. They told us that plenty of it was seen among the hills; but,
being long ago aware that we were now in an immense coalfield, we did
not care to examine it further.
A dyke of black basaltic rock, called Kakolole, crosses the river
near the mouth of the Sinjere; but it has two open gateways in it of
from sixty to eighty yards in breadth, and the channel is very deep.
On a shallow sandbank, under the dyke, lay a herd of hippopotami in
fancied security. The young ones were playing with each other like
young puppies, climbing on the backs of their dams, trying to take
hold of one another by the jaws and tumbling over into the water.
Mbia, one of the Makololo, waded across to within a dozen yards of
the drowsy beasts, and shot the father of the herd; who, being very
fat, soon floated, and was secured at the village below. The headman
of the village visited us while we were at breakfast. He wore a
black "ife" wig and a printed shirt. After a short silence he said
to Masakasa, "You are with the white people, so why do you not tell
them to give me a cloth?" "We are strangers," answered Masakasa,
"why do you not bring us some food?" He took the plain hint, and
brought us two fowls, in order that we should not report that in
passing him we got nothing to eat; and, as usual, we gave a cloth in
return. In reference to the hippopotamus he would make no demand,
but said he would take what we chose to give him. The men gorged
themselves with meat for two days, and cut large quantities into long
narrow strips, which they half-dried and half-roasted on wooden
frames over the fire. Much game is taken in this neighbourhood in
pitfalls. Sharp-pointed stakes are set in the bottom, on which the
game tumbles and gets impaled.
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