BETWEEN THE ZAMBEZI AND THE PUNGWE 



boats, and endeavour to get within range, so as to be 

 able to shoot it for food for the crew. 



These canoes are very curious, being hollowed out 

 of the trunks of trees about a century old, and are 

 easy to handle, although very liable to capsize. 

 They are of various lengths, some I have seen being 

 over thirty-six feet in length. They can go both ways, 

 either stem or stern foremost. The negroes propelling 

 the craft stand up, and are armed with long bamboos, 

 with which they push the skiff along, and are thus 

 easily able to make way against a strong current. 

 There are usually only two or three men working the 

 bamboo, the others sitting quite still in the bottom 

 of the boat to keep the balance and prevent it from 

 capsizing. But where these canoes are most useful 

 is in flooded plains, covered with floating grass. Where 

 another boat would be quite unable to make any head- 

 way, they glide along quite easily. It is true, on the 

 other hand, that the lightness of this craft has its 

 drawbacks ; for instance, should the negro propelling 

 the boat slip and fall backwards, thus destroying the 

 balance, the crew and passengers suddenly find them- 

 selves in the water and in danger of being eaten by 

 crocodiles. 



On January 25th we went down stream and in the 

 evening stopped opposite the village of Mwanamambo. 

 At ten o'clock the next day I arrived opposite Chicari, 

 where we were obliged to halt to repair our skiff which 

 had received a knock and was leaking. Puech, who 



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ii— (2135) 



