XV THE SANYATl RIVER 



309 



us,^ though what they hnagnied two Englishmen were 

 going to do for them I cannot conceive. Some of 

 them prostrated themselves before us, and rolled 

 about in the dust. In the course of the day we saw 

 several herds of hippopotami. 



November 24///. — In the morning I went down to 

 look at the mouth of the Sanyati river, about six or 

 eight miles off. The bed of the Sanyati is one mass 

 of huge boulders of rock, and about 150 yards 

 broad ; but when I saw it, which was certainly at 

 the end of a remarkably dry season, there was 

 but a mere driblet of water running into the 

 Zambesi ; but I can easily understand that after 

 heavy rains it may be transformed into a roaring, 

 seething torrent. The breadth of the Zambesi, 

 where it runs through the narrow gorge of Kariba, 



in many places cannot be more than sixty yards 



narrower than at any other place I had yet seen. It 

 seemed to have worn a deep channel through the 

 hard rock, through which it rushed with a strong 

 current, full of whirlpools and eddies. From the 

 high-water marks, I should think that when in flood 

 the Zambesi must here rise quite twenty feet above 

 its lowest level, and its breadth would then be over 

 200 yards. To prove the narrowness of the river, 

 I threw stones across it in many places, some of 

 which fell a considerable distance on the farther 

 side, though I had to throw without a run, and 

 balancing myself on the tops of rocks. 



November 25//^.— To avoid the hills of Kariba, 

 we left the river here, and took a path which passed 

 at the back of them, through dry, desolate-looking 

 mopani forests. About 11 a.m. we reached a pit 

 dug by the natives, where we obtained enough water 

 for ourselves and retinue. In the evening we went 



