ARRANGEMENTS FOR JOURNEY 247 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Preliminary Arrangements for the Journey. — A Picho. — Twenty-seven Men ap- 

 pointed to accompany me to the West. — Eagerness of the Makololo for direct 

 Trade with the Coast. — Effects of Fever. — A Makololo Question. — The lost Jour- 

 nal. — Reflections. — The Outfit for the Journey. — 11th November, 1853, leave Lin- 

 yanti, and embark on the Chobe. — Dangerous Hippopotami. — Banks of Chobe. — 

 Trees. — The Course of the River. — The Island Mparia at the Confluence of the 

 Chobe and the Leeambye. — Anecdote. — Ascend the Leeambye. — A Makalaka 

 Mother defies the Authority of the Makololo Head Man at Sesheke. — Punishment 

 of Thieves. — Observance of the new Moon. — Piiblic Addresses at Sesheke. — At- 

 tention of the People. — Results. — Proceed up the River. — The Fruit which yields 

 Ntix vomica. — Other Fruits. — The Rapids. — Birds. — Fish. — Hippopotami and 

 their Young. 



Linyanti, September, 1853. The object proposed to the Ma- 

 kololo seemed so desirable that it was resolved to proceed with it 

 as soon as the cooling influence of the rains should be felt in No- 

 vember. The longitude and latitude of Linyanti (lat. 18° 17' 20" 

 S., long. 23° 50' 9" E.) showed that St. Philip cle Benguela was 

 much nearer to us than Loanda ; and I might have easily made 

 arrangements with the Mambari to allow me to accompany them 

 as far as Bihe, which is on the road to that port ; but it is so un- 

 desirable to travel in a path once trodden by slave-traders that I 

 preferred to find out another line of march. 



Accordingly, men were sent at my suggestion to examine all 

 the country to the west, to see if any belt of country free from 

 tsetse could be found to afford us an outlet. The search was 

 fruitless. The town and district of Linyanti are surrounded by 

 forests infested by this poisonous insect, except at a few points, 

 as that by which we entered at Sanshureh and another at Se- 

 sheke. But the lands both east and west of the Barotse valley are 

 free from this insect plague. There, however, the slave-trade had 

 defiled the path, and no one ought to follow in its wake unless 

 well armed. The Mambari had informed me that many English 

 lived at Loanda, so I prepared to go thither. The prospect of 

 meeting with countrymen seemed to overbalance the toils of the 

 longer march. 



