882 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Qct 



very soon failed us. Indeed, the common canoes of the country 

 passed us with ease, and the people in them looked back, wondering 

 what this puffing, asthmatic thing could mean. The crocodiles 

 thought it was a land-animal swimming, and rushed at it in hopes 

 of having a feast. The river for the first 300 miles is from half a 

 mile to three miles wide. During half the year the water is abun- 

 dant and deep : during the other half, or the dry season, it is very 

 shallow ; but with properly constructed vessels much might be made 

 of it during the whole of ordinary years. We proceeded as soon 

 as we could to the rapids above Zette, our intention having origi- 

 nally been to go up as far as the Great Victoria Falls, and do what 

 we could with the Makololo, but our steamer could not stem a four- 

 knot current. We then turned off to an affluent of the Zambesi, 

 which flows into it about 100 miles from the sea; it is called the 

 Shire, and, as far as we know, was never explored by any European 

 before. It flows in a valley about 200 miles long and twenty broad. 

 Ranges of hills shut in the landscape on both sides, while the river 

 itself winds excessively among marshes ; in one of these we counted 

 800 elephants, all in sight at one time. The population was 

 very large ; crowds of natives, armed with bows and poisoned ar- 

 rows, lined the banks, and seemed disposed to resent any injury 

 that might be inflicted. But by care and civility we gave them 

 no occasion for commencing hostilities, though they were oncejust 

 on the point of discharging their arrows. On a second visit they 

 were more friendly, and the women and children appeared. We 

 had so far gained their confidence that we left the steamer at Mur- 

 chison's Cataracts; and Dr. Kirk and I, proceeding on foot to the 

 N.N.E., discovered Lake Shirwe. This lake is not lar^e ; it is 

 said to have no outlet, and this is probably the case, for its water 

 is brackibh ; it abounds in fish, hippopotami, and leeches. The 

 scenery around is very beautiful, the mountains on the east rising 

 to a height of 8,000 or 9,000 feet. We were now among Manganja, 

 a people who had not been visited by Europeans, and as I am 

 often asked what sort of folk these savages are, I may answer 

 they were as low as any we ever met, except Bushmen, yet they 

 all cultivate the soil for their sustenance. They raise large quan 

 titles of maize, or Indian corn, and another grain, which grows in 

 a stalk ten or twelve feet high, with grain very much like the 

 hemp-seed given to canaries, and called by the Arabs dura {Hcelr 

 cus georghum) ; another kind of grain (tennisetum) ; several kinds 

 of beans, pumpkins, and melons ; cucumbers, from the seeds of 



