54 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AND ITS SCENERY 



mixture of sand and mud of which the bank is 

 composed, we seem able to look right into houses 

 and compounds and offices and workshops, since 

 the fences, when there were any, have either been 

 washed down or taken up. Perched upon the top 

 of the " Gomb^," as the river bank is here called, 

 one's attention is first caught by several stern- 

 wheel river steamers in ingeniously constructed 

 dry docks, either " resting," as they say in the 

 theatrical profession, or undergoing repairs, their 

 appearance suggesting that of so many gigantic 

 and indignant hens sitting on an equal number of 

 enormous nests, the air vibrating the while with 

 the tapping of hammers on iron plates. On the 

 steeply shelving river bank itself, every sort of 

 craft is huddled in one confused pell-mell, from the 

 smartly painted, five-oared agent's gig, to the large, 

 unwieldy, iron lighter. On the top of the bank, 

 other boats appear under thatched shelters of neg- 

 lected exterior, wherein repose in addition a number 

 of card-playing natives, who are supposed to be 

 cleaning paint or brasswork. We climb upon 

 brawny shoulders, and are speedily carried ashore. 

 The first annoyance is caused by the sand into 

 which our feet sink to the ankle. It is hot sand, 

 and you speculate as to what would be the 

 sufferings of a wearer of patent leathers in such a 

 place. The crowd on the " Gomb^ " is a motley 

 one. Natives, of course, everywhere, unintelligent- 

 looking, almost naked Zambezi boys, or " lower 

 river boys " as one speedily learns to call them. 

 A couple of Scottish engineers, coatless, shirt sleeves 

 roUed up, double terai hat faded and shapeless well 



