286 NAVIGATION OF THE LEEAMBYE. 



The message by Mosantu was, that "I was sorry to find that San- 

 turu had not borne a wiser son. Santuru loved to govern men, 

 but Masiko wanted to govern wild beasts only, as he sold his peo- 

 ple to the Mambari ;" adding an explanation of the return of the 

 captives, and an injunction to him to live in peace, and prevent 

 his people kidnapping the children and canoes of the Makololo, 

 as a continuance in these deeds would lead to war, which I wish- 

 ed to prevent. He was also instructed to say, if Masiko wanted 

 fuller explanation of my views, he must send a sensible man to 

 talk with me at the first town of the Balonda, to which I was 

 about to proceed. 



We ferried Mosantu over to the left bank of the Leeba. The 

 journey required five days, but it could not have been at a quick- 

 er rate than ten or twelve miles per day ; the children were be- 

 tween seven and eight years of age, and unable to walk fast in a 

 hot sun. 



Leaving Mosantu to pursue his course, we shall take but one 

 glance down the river, which we are now about to leave, for it 

 comes at this point from the eastward, and our course is to be 

 directed to the northwest, as we mean to go to Loanda in 

 Angola. From the confluence, where we now are, down to Mo- 

 sioatunya, there are many long reaches, where a vessel equal 

 to the Thames steamers plying between the bridges could run 

 as freely as they do on the Thames. It is often, even here, as 

 broad as that river at London Bridge, but, without accurate 

 measurement of the depth, one could not say which contained 

 most water. There are, however, many and serious obstacles 

 to a continued navigation for hundreds of miles at a stretch. 

 About ten miles below the confluence of the Loeti, for instance, 

 there are many large sand-banks in the stream ; then you have 

 a hundred miles to the River Simah, where a Thames steamer 

 could ply at all times of the year ; but, again, the space between 

 Simah and Katima-molelo has five or six rapids with cataracts, 

 one of which, Gonye, could not be passed at any time without 

 portage. Between these rapids there are reaches of still, deep 

 water, of several miles in length. Beyond Katima-molelo to the 

 confluence of the Chobe you have nearly a hundred miles again, 

 of a river capable of being navigated in the same way as in the 

 Barotse valley. 



