BAEOTSE EEAS. 237 



Santuru, at whose ancient granary we are staying, was a great 

 hunter, and very fond of taming wild animals. His people, aware 

 of his taste, brought to him every young antelope they could catch, 

 and, among other things, two young hippopotami. These animals 

 gamboled in the river by day, but never failed to remember to 

 come up to Naliele for their suppers of milk and meal. They 

 were the wonder of the country, till a stranger, happening to 

 come to visit Santaru, saw them reclining in the sun, and speared 

 one of them on the supposition that it was wild. The same un- 

 lucky accident happened to one of the cats I had brought to Se- 

 keletu. A stranger, seeing an animal he had never viewed before, 

 killed it, and brought the trophy to the chief, thinking that he 

 had made a very remarkable discovery ; we thereby lost the 

 breed of cats, of which, from the swarms of mice, we stood in 

 great need. 



On making inquiries to ascertain whether Santuru, the Mo- 

 loiana, had ever been visited by white men, I could find no 

 vestige of any such visit ;* there is no evidence of any of San- 

 turu's people having ever seen a white man before the arrival of 

 Mr. Oswell and myself in 1851. The people have, it is true, no 

 written records ; but any remarkable event here is commemo- 

 rated in names, as was observed by Park to be the case in the 

 countries he traversed. The year of our arrival is dignified by 



* The Barotse call themselves the Baloiana or little Baloi, as if they had been 

 an offset from Loi, or Lui, as it is often spelt. As Lui had been visited by Portu- 

 guese, but its position not well ascertained, my inquiries referred to the identity 

 of Naliele with Lui. On asking the head man of the Mambari party, named Porto, 

 whether he had ever heard of Naliele being visited previously, he replied in the 

 negative, and stated that he " had himself attempted to come from Bihe three 

 times, but had always been prevented by the tribe called Ganguellas." He nearly 

 succeeded in 1852, but was driven back. He now (in 1853) attempted to go east- 

 ward from Naliele, but came back to the Barotse on being unable to go beyond 

 Kainko's village, which is situated on the Bashukulompo River, and eight days dis- 

 tant. The whole party was anxious to secure a reward believed to be promised 

 by the Portuguese government. Their want of success confirmed my impression 

 that I ought to go westward. Porto kindly offered to aid me, if I would go with 

 him to Bihe ; but when I declined, he preceded me to Loanda, and was publishing 

 his Journal when I arrived at that city. Ben Habib told me that Porto had sent 

 letters to Mosambique by the Arab, Ben Chombo, whom I knew; and he has 

 since asserted, in Portugal, that he himself went to Mosambique as well as his 

 letters '. 



