Chap. XII. BAROTSE ERAS. 217 



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 gambolled in the river by day, but never failed to 

 remember to come up to Naliele for then suppers of milk and 

 meal. They were the wonder of the country till a stranger, 

 happening to come to visit Santuru, saw them reclining in the 

 sun, and speared one of them on the supposition that it was 

 wild. The same unlucky accident happened to one of the cats 

 I had brought to Sekeletu. A stranger, seeing an animal he 

 had never viewed before, lulled it, and brought the trophy to 

 the chief, thinking that he had made a very remarkable dis- 

 covery ; 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 



* 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 Portuguese, but its position not well ascertained, my inquiries re- 

 ferred to the identity of Naliele with Lui. On asking the headman 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 him- 

 self attempted to come from Bihe three times, but had always been prevented 

 by the tribe called Ganguellas." He nearly succeeded iu 1852, but was 

 driven back. He now (in 1853) attempted to go eastward 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 distant. 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 westwards. 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 Mosam- 

 bique as well as his letters ! 



