GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



407 



active and vigorous in rescuing his instruments 

 and in repulsing the ussuilants ; yet the morn- 

 ing n f tor the victory he found that his carriers 

 had abandoned him in a body, all the Bengue- 

 lons leaving, and only a handful of Biheans, 

 seven in number, remaining with their lomK-r. 

 Pinto was forced to turn his course to the 

 southward, into the country which has been 

 made very familiar to the world by the writ- 

 ings of Livingstone. Tet important political 

 (halites have taken place since the sojourn of 

 tin- Scotch traveler with Sebituane, the able 

 Kin,' of the Makalolos. That kingdom has been 

 overthrown, and the very nation itself has been 

 completely exterminated. Livingstone fore- 

 saw its decay on his second visit to the Maka- 

 lolos under the second King, Sekeletu. The 

 empire which Sebituane had founded, by con- 

 quering the nations around and consolidating 

 them into a strong kingdom, was destroyed by 

 the former possessors of the land, who rose 

 suddenly in the reign of the third King, and 

 put the greater part of their masters to death, 

 subsequently destroying the rest, who fled to 

 Bihe and made from there an incursion in 

 January, 1878. The hardy and brave nation 

 which Sebituano had formed from all the dif- 

 ferent races of South Africa owed their decay 

 and final destruction to the enervating effects 

 of fevers and to licentiousness and the use of 

 tang. On the Zambesi Serpa Pinto met Mechua- 

 na, Livingstone's companion, who was then a 

 Luina slave of Sekeletu, but who is now a prom- 

 inent man in the nation. The banks of the 

 Zambesi were at first covered with woods, 

 and pulse was everywhere plentiful. Soon he 

 reached basaltic formations and uninterrupted 

 cataracts and rapids down to the Victoria Falls. 

 There are 72 of these falls and rapids between 

 the 16th parallel of latitude and the Victoria 

 Falls, a distance of 220 geographical miles. 

 The only affluents of the Zambesi from the 

 west were the Lungo-e-ungo, the Uhengo, and 

 the Cuando, except a small one close to the 

 Victoria Falls. The Uhengo is formed by the 

 junction of three rivers, the Ninda, the Loati, 

 and the Luanginga. The level of the land de- 

 clines between Bih6 and the Zambesi about 

 1,200 feet; but south of the Cuando the land 

 begins to rise again, and a luxuriant vegeta- 

 tion is met with ; yet the country is almost 

 uninhabited. The country south of the Zam- 

 besi is not attractive to settlers, although ex- 

 ceedingly fertile, both because of the hostile 

 attitude of the Matabeli, who regard the Zam- 

 besi as their natural frontier, and because of 

 the malarial climate. Down to the Victoria 

 Falls, with the exception of the barren region 

 of the rapids, the country is well peopled. 

 East of the river live the fierce and warlike 

 Makalakas, many of whom are taken captive 

 in their constant wars, and serve the surround- 

 ing tribes as slaves. At Linyanti, on the Cnan- 

 do t he expected to find an English mission; 

 but the mission was deserted, the missionaries 

 having fallen victims to the deadly climate, 



and he was confronted, ill and exhausted as he 

 was, by hostile natives. Fortunately, be did 

 encounter Europeans at this juncture. The 

 first was an English naturalist, Dr. Bradshaw, 

 whose life and circumstances contrasted strik- 

 ingly with the elegant hermitage of his Portu- 

 guese compeer in Angola ; for, inured to wild 

 life, and supporting himself by the chase, he 

 was found pursuing his vocation barefoot and 

 coatless among the ceaseless perils of this wil- 

 derness. "While in the company of this gentle- 

 man the negroes surrounded their habitation 

 one night, prowling about with evil intent 

 while they held a vigilant watch. In the morn- 

 ing the Portuguese traveler found that they 

 had robbed him of the remainder of his bag- 

 gage. He then went in search of a French 

 missionary who lived with his wife and sister 

 at Guiyama, and, falling very ill on the way, 

 he was tenderly cared for by this brave family. 

 Recovering from the fever, he set out to find 

 the solution of the problem of the discharge 

 of the Cubango. Pastor Coillard and the la- 

 dies insisted on bearing him company in the 

 toilsome excursion into the Kalihari Desert. 

 Kalihari is nowhere strictly a desert, as trees 

 and pastures, water and game are found, and 

 people live in all parts of it ; yet water in many 

 portions is only to be had at certain seasons 

 of the year, acd the inhabitants are obliged to 

 follow a nomadic life, changing their abode as 

 the waters come and go. The explorer did 

 not succeed in reaching the Cubango ; but, from 

 what he observed and learned from the na- 

 tives, he believes that he has settled the ques- 

 tion of the discharge of that river, a question 

 of great importance in the hydrography of 

 Southern Africa. The Cubango is laid down 

 variously on recent maps as flowing into the 

 Curfene, to lagoons near Lake Ngami, or to 

 the Chobe. Its upper course has been made 

 known by Portuguese traders, and is traced on 

 S6 da Bandeira's map as far as latitude 170 S. 

 0. J. Andersson struck this river in 1859 in 

 latitude 17 47' S., longitude 18 51' E., and 

 navigated it up and down for a distance of 100 

 miles. It was here called the Okavango, and 

 was 200 to 800 yards broad, very deep, and 

 flowing at the rate of 2J to 3 miles an hour. 

 Baines and Andersson both supposed that it 

 flowed into the Chobe and formed the princi- 

 pal branch of the Zambesi. At the upper end 

 of the Kalihari Pinto came upon the great 

 Macaricari salt-pan. The Macaricari is con- 

 nected with Lake Ngami by the Botletle Riv- 

 er. The Cubango River, according to Serpa 

 Pinto's reports, has no connection whatever 

 with the Cuando or the Zambesi, but its waters, 

 considerably reduced in volume by evapora- 

 tion, are entirely absorbed by the Kalihari 

 Desert. It empties into Lake Ngami, which 

 in very rainy seasons overflows into the great 

 salt-pan. The Macaricari and the Botletle both 

 exhibit some very mysterious and complicated 

 phenomena, according to Serpa Pinto's state- 

 ments. The salt-pan is sometimes a perfectly 



