222 NO HEALTHY LOCATION. Chap. XII. 



There the Leeambye assumes the name Kahompo, and seems to 

 be coming from the east. It is a fine large river, about three 

 hundred yards wide, and the Leeba two hundred and fifty. The 

 Loeti, a branch of which is called Langebongo, comes from 

 W.N.W., through a level grassy plain named Mango ; it is about 

 one hundred yards wide, and enters the Leeambye from the west ; 

 the waters of the Loeti are of a light colour, and those of the 

 Leeba of a dark mossy hue. After the Loeti joins the Leeambye 

 the different coloured waters flow side by side for some distance 

 unmixed. 



Before reaching the Loeti we came to a number of people from 

 the Lobale region, hunting hippopotami. They fled precipitately 

 as soon as they saw the Makololo, leaving their canoes and all 

 their utensils and clothing. My own Makalaka, who were accus- 

 tomed to plunder wherever they went, rushed after them like 

 furies, totally regardless of my shouting. As tliis proceeding 

 would have destroyed my character entirely at Lobale, I took my 

 stand on a commanding position as they returned, and forced 

 them to lay down all the plunder on a sandbank, and leave it 

 there for its lawful owners. 



It was now quite evident that no healthy location could be 

 obtained in which the Makololo would be allowed to live in peace. 

 I had thus a fair excuse, if I had chosen to avail myself of it, of 

 coming home and saying that the " door was shut," because the 

 Lord's time had not yet come. But believing that it was my 

 duty to devote some portion of my life to these (to me at least) 

 very confiding and affectionate Makololo, I resolved to follow out 

 the second part of my plan, though I had failed in accomplishing 

 the first. The Leeba seemed to come from the N. and by W., or 

 N.N.W. ; so, having an old Portuguese map, which pointed out 

 the Coanza as rising from the middle of the continent in 9° S. lat., 

 I thought it probable that, when we had ascended the Leeba (from 

 14° 11') two or three degrees, we should then be within one hun- 

 dred and twenty miles of the Coanza, and find no difficulty in 

 following it down to the coast near Loanda. This was the logical 

 deduction, but, as is the case with many a plausible theory, one 

 of the premises was decidedly defective. The Coanza, as we 

 afterwards found, does not come from anywhere near the centre 

 of the country. 



