264 NAVIGATION OF THE LEEAMBYE. Chap. XV. 



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

 Santuru had not borne a wiser son. Santuru loved to govern 

 men, but Masiko wanted to govern wild beasts only, as he sold 

 his people 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 wished 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 

 quicker rate than ten or twelve miles per day ; the children 

 were between seven and eight years of age, and unable to walk 

 fast in a hot sun. 



Leaving Mosantu to pursue Ins 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 north-west, as we mean to go to Loanda in 

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

 Mosioatunya, 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 sandbanks in the stream ; then you have 

 a hundred miles to the river Siinah, 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 winch, 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. 



