ASCENT OF THE LEEAMBYE. 231 



CHAPTER XII. 



Procure Canoes and ascend the Leeambye. — Beautiful Islands. — Winter Land- 

 scape. — Industry and Skill of the Banyeti. — Rapids. — Falls of Gonye. — Tradi- 

 tion. — Annual Inundations. — Fertility of the great Barotse Valley. — Execution 

 of two Conspirators. — The Slave-dealer's Stockade. — Naliele, the Capital, built 

 on an artificial Mound. — Santuru, a great Hunter. — The Barotse Method of com- 

 memorating any remarkable Event. — Better Treatment of Women. — More relig- 

 ious Feeling. — Belief in a future State, and in the Existence of spiritual Beings. 

 — Gardens. — Fish, Fruit, and Game. — Proceed to the Limits of the Barotse 

 Country. — Sekeletu provides Rowers and a Herald. — The River and Vicinity. — 

 Hippopotamus-hunters. — No healthy Location. — Determine to go to Loanda. — 

 Buffaloes, Elands, and Lions above Libonta. — Interview with the Mambari. — 

 Two Arabs from Zanzibar. — Their Opinion of the Portuguese and the English. — 

 Reach the Town of Ma-Sekeletu. — Joy of the People at the first Visit of their 

 Chief. — Return to Sesheke. — Heathenism. 



Having at last procured a sufficient number of canoes, we be- 

 gan to ascend the river. I had the choice of the whole fleet, 

 and selected the best, though not the largest ; it was thirty-four 

 feet long by twenty inches wide. I had six paddlers, and the 

 larger canoe of Sekeletu had ten. They stand upright, and 

 keep the stroke with great precision, though they change from 

 side to side as the course demands. The men at the head and 

 stern are selected from the strongest and most expert of the 

 whole. The canoes, being flat bottomed, can go into very shal- 

 low water ; and whenever the men can feel the bottom they use 

 the paddles, which are about eight feet long, as poles to punt with. 

 Our fleet consisted of thirty-three canoes, and about one hund- 

 red and sixty men. It was beautiful to see them skimming 

 along so quickly, and keeping the time so well. On land the 

 Makalaka fear the Makololo ; on water the Makololo fear them, 

 and can not prevent them from racing with each other, dashing 

 along at the top of their speed, and placing their masters' lives in 

 danger. In the event of a capsize, many of the Makololo would 

 sink like stones. A case of this kind happened on the first day 

 of our voyage up. The wind, blowing generally from the east, 

 raises very large waves on the Leeambye. An old doctor of the 



