CHAPTER XV 



Cross the Zambesi — Great Heat — Mwemba — Lioness shot — LoreiKjo 

 Monteiro — Disturbance between Batongas and Shakiindas — Leave 

 Chaiza — Batonga Musician — Crocodile shot — Villages burned by 

 the Shakundas- — Striped Eland shot — Hippopotami — Reach 

 Nhaucoe — Joaquini Mendon(;a — Canyemba — Cruel Treatment of 

 Slaves — Smallpox — Donkeys killed by Hyajnas — Start for the 

 Manica Country — Konze Antelope — Continuous Rains. 



On October 30, eight days after leaving Pandama- 

 tenka, we crossed the Zambesi at Wankie's Town, 

 swimming the donkeys through the river at the tail 

 of a canoe without much difficulty. At this time of 

 year the heat in the Zambesi valley is intense, and 

 very enervating anci oppressive. On November 3 

 the thermometer marked 87° at ciay - dawn, the 

 coolest time in the whole twenty-four hours. At 

 mid-day, in the shade of very thick-foliaged trees, 

 with a breeze blowing beneath, it ranged from 103" 

 to 110° as long as we were on the river. 



November Gth. — Reached Mwemba's kraal about 

 9 A.M. He is supposed to be the biggest man 

 amongst the Batongas. He told us we were the 

 first white men he had ever seen, and was also very 

 much surprised and pleased at the sight of the donkeys. 

 iVIany of the Batonga men in this part of the country 

 go perfectly naked, without the slightest vestige of 

 cloth or skin about them. Two days before reaching 

 Mwemba's, Owen shot a lioness. I fired at her first, 



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