GONYE — END OF WINTER. ?\J 



of Gonye; nor is there any evidence or tradition of hur* 

 rii;anes. 



I left Xaliele on the 13th of August, and, when proceed- 

 ing along the shore at mid-day, a hippopotamus struck the 

 canoe with her forehead, lifting one-half of it quite out of 

 the water, so as nearly to overturn it. The force of the 

 butt she gave tilted Mashauana out into the river; the rest 

 of us sprang to the shore, which was only about ten yards 

 off. Glancing back, I saw her come to the surface a short 

 way off and look to the canoe, as if to see if she had 

 done much mischief. It was a female, whose young one 

 had been speared the day before. No damage was done, 

 except wetting person and goods. This is so unusual an 

 occurrence, when the precaution is taken to coast along 

 the shore, that my men exclaimed, " Is the beast mad ?" 

 There were eight of us in the canoe at the time, and the 

 shake it received shows the immense power of this animal 

 in the water. 



August 22. — This is the end of winter. The trees which 

 line the banks begin to bud and blossom, and there is some 

 show of the influence of the new sap, which will soon end 

 in buds that push off the old foliage by assuming a very 

 bright orange color. This orange is so bright that I mis- 

 took it for masses of yellow blossom. There is every 

 variety of shade in the leaves, — yellow, purple, copper, 

 liver-color, and even inky black. 



Having got the loan of other canoes from Mpololo, and 

 three oxen as provision for the way, which made the 

 number we had been presented with in the Barotse valley 

 amount to thirteen, we proceeded down the river toward 

 Resheke, and were as much struck as formerly with the 

 noble river. The whole scenery is lovely, though the atmo- 

 sphere is murky in consequence of the continuance of the 

 smoky tinge of winter. 



The amount of organic life is surprising. At the time 

 the river begins to rise, the Ibis religiosa comes down in 

 flocks of fifties, with prodigious numbers of other water- 



27* 



