A Strong Current Setting To
The East When The Tide Is Flowing, And To The West When Ebbing, May
Drag A Boat Or Ship Into The Breakers.
If one is doubtful of his
longitude and runs east, he will soon see the land at Timbwe
disappear away to the north; and coming west again, he can easily
make out East Luabo from its great size; and Kongone follows several
miles west.
East Luabo has a good but long bar, and not to be
attempted unless the wind be north-east or east. It has sometimes
been called "Barra Catrina," and was used in the embarkations of
slaves. This may have been the "River of Good Signs," of Vasco da
Gama, as the mouth is more easily seen from the seaward than any
other; but the absence of the pillar dedicated by that navigator to
"St. Raphael," leaves the matter in doubt. No Portuguese live within
eighty miles of any mouth of the Zambesi.
The Kongone is five miles east of the Milambe, or western branch, and
seven miles west from East Luabo, which again is five miles from the
Timbwe. We saw but few natives, and these, by escaping from their
canoes into the mangrove thickets the moment they caught sight of us,
gave unmistakeable indications that they had no very favourable
opinion of white men. They were probably fugitives from Portuguese
slavery. In the grassy glades buffaloes, wart-hogs, and three kinds
of antelope were abundant, and the latter easily obtained. A few
hours' hunting usually provided venison enough for a score of men for
several days.
On proceeding up the Kongone branch it was found that, by keeping
well in the bends, which the current had worn deep, shoals were
easily avoided. The first twenty miles are straight and deep; then a
small and rather tortuous natural canal leads off to the right, and,
after about five miles, during which the paddles almost touch the
floating grass of the sides, ends in the broad Zambesi. The rest of
the Kongone branch comes out of the main stream considerably higher
up as the outgoing branch called Doto.
The first twenty miles of the Kongone are enclosed in mangrove
jungle; some of the trees are ornamented with orchilla weed, which
appears never to have been gathered. Huge ferns, palm bushes, and
occasionally wild date-palms peer out in the forest, which consists
of different species of mangroves; the bunches of bright yellow,
though scarcely edible fruit, contrasting prettily with the graceful
green leaves. In some spots the Milola, an umbrageous hibiscus, with
large yellowish flowers, grows in masses along the bank. Its bark is
made into cordage, and is especially valuable for the manufacture of
ropes attached to harpoons for killing the hippopotamus. The
Pandanus or screw-palm, from which sugar bags are made in the
Mauritius, also appears, and on coming out of the canal into the
Zambesi many are so tall as in the distance to remind us of the
steeples of our native land, and make us relish the remark of an old
sailor, "that but one thing was wanting to complete the picture, and
that was a 'grog-shop near the church.'" We find also a few guava
and lime-trees growing wild, but the natives claim the crops.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 8 of 263
Words from 3639 to 4192
of 136856
