A GARRULOUS GUIDE. 385 



food was ready ; but she sent a basket of corn and a fowl. A h 

 an excuse why Boroma did not present himself, she said 

 that he was seized this morning by the Barinio, — which 

 probably meant that his lordship was drunk. 



We marched along the river to a point opposite the hill 

 Pinkwe, (lat. 15° 39' 11" S., long. 32° 5' B.j) but the late 

 abundant rains now flooded the Zambesi again, and great 

 quantities of wreck appeared upon the stream. 



This flood having filled the river, we found the numerous 

 rivulets which flow into it filled also, and when going along 

 the Zambesi we lost so mucn time in passing up each little 

 stream till we could find a ford about waist deep, and then 

 returning to the bank, that I resolved to leave the river 

 altogether and strike away to the southeast. We accord- 

 ingly struck off when opposite the hill Pinkwe, and came 

 into a hard ilopane country. 



This Chicova is not a kingdom, as has been stated, but a 

 level tract, a part of which is annually overflowed by the 

 Zambesi, and is well adapted for the cultivation of corn 

 It is said to be below the northern end of the hill Bungwe 

 I was veiy much pleased in discovering a small specimen 

 of such a precious mineral as coal. I saw no indication of 

 silver; and, if it ever was worked by the natives, it is re- 

 markable that they have entirely lost the knowledge of it, 

 and cannot distinguish between silver and tin. Our path 

 lay along the bed of the jSTake for some distance, the banks 

 being covered with impenetrable thickets. The villages 

 are not numerous; but we went from one to the other, and 

 were treated kindly. Here they call themselves Bambiri, 

 though the general name of the whole nation is BanjYii. 

 One of our guides was an inveterate talker, always stop- 

 ping and asking for pay, that he might go on with a merrv 

 heart. I thought that he led us in the most difficult paths 

 in order to make us feel his value, for, after passing through 

 one thicket after another, we always came into the bed 

 of the Xake again; and as that was full of coarse sand, and 

 the water only ankle deep, and as h)tasa foot-bath from 

 Z 33 



