GRAPES.— THE UE. 659 



without fear. I never felt the atmosphere so steamy as on the 

 low-lying lands of the Zambesi, and yet it was becoming cooler 

 than it was on the highlands. 



We crossed the rivulets Kapopo and Ue, now running, but usu- 

 ally dry. There are great numbers of wild grape-vines growing 

 in this quarter ; indeed, they abound every where along the banks 

 of the Zambesi. In the Batoka country there is a variety which 

 yields a black grape of considerable sweetness. The leaves arc 

 very large and harsh, as if capable of withstanding the rays of 

 this hot sun ; but the most common kinds — one with a round 

 leaf and a greenish grape, and another with a leaf closely resem- 

 bling that of the cultivated varieties, and with dark or purple 

 fruit — have large seeds, which are strongly astringent, and render 

 it a disagreeable fruit. The natives eat all the varieties ; and I 

 tasted vinegar made by a Portuguese from these grapes. Proba- 

 bly a country which yields the wild vines so very abundantly 

 might be a fit one for the cultivated species. At this part of the 

 journey so many of the vines had run across the little footpath 

 we followed that one had to be constantly on the watch to avoid 

 being tripped. The ground was covered with rounded shingle, 

 which was not easily seen among the grass. Pedestrianism may 

 be all very well for those whose obesity requires much exercise, 

 but for one who was becoming as thin as a lath, through the con- 

 stant perspiration caused by marching day after day in the hot 

 sun, the only good I saw in it was that it gave an honest sort of 

 man a vivid idea of the tread-mill. 



Although the rains were not quite over, great numbers of pools 

 were drying up, and the ground was in many parts covered with 

 small green cryptogamous plants, which gave it a mouldy appear- 

 ance and a strong smell. As we sometimes pushed aside the 

 masses of rank vegetation which hung over our path, we felt a sort 

 of hot blast on our faces. Every thing looked unwholesome, but 

 we had no fever. The Ue flows between high banks of a soft red 

 sandstone streaked with white, and pieces of tufa. The crumbling 

 sandstone is evidently alluvial, and is cut into 12 feet deep. In 

 this region, too, we met with pot-holes six feet deep and three or 

 four in diameter. In some cases they form convenient wells ; in 

 others they are full of earth ; and in others still the people have 

 made them into graves for their chiefs. 



