Chap. XIII. FISH— IGUANOS— HIPPOPOTAMI. 241 



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

 fishing 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 conies 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 ever had anything 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 becomes large. 



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

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

 approach. 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 Nam^ta are relieved by several reaches of still deep water, 

 fifteen or twenty miles long. In these, very large herds of hippo- 

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

 the banks to graze during the nights, are everywhere apparent. 

 They are guided back to the water by the scent, but a long- 

 continued pouring rain makes it impossible for them to perceive, 

 by that means, in which direction the river lies, and they are 

 found standing bewildered on the land. The hunters take ad- 

 vantage 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 thrust up, then the herd is sup- 



B 



