FISH.— IGUANOS.— HIPPOPOTAMI. 261 



pelican. Soaring over head, and seeing this large, stupid bird 

 iishing beneath, it watches till a fine fish is safe in the pelican's 

 pouch ; then descending, not very quickly, but with considerable 

 noise of wing, the pelican looks up to see what is the matter, 

 and, as the hawk comes near, he supposes that he is about to be 

 killed, and roars out "Murder!" The opening of his mouth 

 enables the hawk to whisk the fish out of the pouch, upon which 

 the pelican does not fly away, but commences fishing again, the 

 fright having probably made him forget he had any thing in his 

 purse. 



A fish called mosheba, about the size of a minnow, often skims 

 along the surface for several yards, in order to get out of the way 

 of the canoe. It uses the pectoral fins, as the flying-fish do, but 

 never makes a clean flight. It is rather a succession of hops 

 along the surface, made by the aid of the side fins. It never be- 

 comes large. 



Numbers of iguanos (mpulu) sit sunning themselves on over- 

 hanging branches of the trees, and splash into the water as we ap- 

 proach. They are highly esteemed as an article of food, the flesh 

 being tender and gelatinous. The chief boatman, who occupies 

 the stem, has in consequence a light javelin always at hand to 

 spear them if they are not quickly out of sight. These, and large 

 alligators gliding in from the banks with a heavy plunge as we 

 come round a sudden bend of the stream, were the occurrences of 

 every hour as we sped up the river. 



The rapids in the part of the river between Katima-molelo and 

 Nameta are relieved by several reaches of still, deep water, fifteen 

 or twenty miles long. In these very large herds of hippopotami 

 are seen, and the deep furrows they make, in ascending the banks 

 to graze during the nights, are every where apparent. They are 

 guided back to the water by the scent, but a long continued pour- 

 ing rain makes it impossible for them to perceive, by that means, 

 in which direction the river lies, and they are found bewildered on 

 the land. The hunters take advantage of their helplessness on 

 these occasions to kill them. 



It is impossible to judge of the numbers in a herd, for they are 

 almost always hidden beneath the waters ; but as they require to 

 come up every few minutes to breathe, when there is a constant 

 succession of heads thrown up, then the herd is supposed to be 



