Chap. XV. THE LEEBA. 265 



Now, I do not say that this part of the river presents a very- 

 inviting prospect for extemporaneous European enterprise ; but 

 when we have a pathway which requires only the formation of 

 portages to make it equal to our canals for hundreds of miles, 

 where the philosophers supposed there was nought but an exten- 

 sive sandy desert, we must confess that the future partakes at 

 least of the elements of hope. My deliberate conviction was 

 and is, that the part of the country indicated, is as capable of 

 supporting millions of inhabitants as it is of its thousands. The 

 grass of the Barotse valley, for instance, is such a densely 

 matted mass that, when " laid," the stalks bear each other up, so 

 that one feels as if walking on the sheaves of a hay-stack, and 

 the leches nestle under it to bring forth then young. The soil 

 which produces this, if placed under the plough, instead of being 

 mere pasturage, would yield grain sufficient to feed vast mul- 

 titudes. 



We now began to ascend the Leeba. The water is black in 

 colour as compared with the main stream, winch here assumes 

 the name of Kabompo. The Leeba flows placidly, and, unlike the 

 parent river, receives numbers of little rivulets from both sides. 

 It winds slowly through the most charming meadows, each of 

 winch has either a soft sedgy centre, large pond, or trickling rill, 

 down the middle. The trees are now covered with a profusion of 

 the freshest foliage, and seem planted in groups of such pleasant, 

 graceful outline, that art could give no additional charm. The 

 grass, which had been burned off and was growing again after 

 the rains, was short and green ; and all the scenery so like that 

 of a carefully-tended gentleman's park, that one is scarcely re- 

 minded that the surrounding region is in the hands of simple 

 nature alone. I suspect that the level meadows are inundated 

 annually, for the spots on which the trees stand are elevated 

 three or four feet above them, and these elevations, being of dif- 

 ferent shapes, give the strange variety of outline of the park-like 

 woods. Numbers of a fresh-water shell are scattered all over 

 these valleys. The elevations, as I have observed elsewhere, are 

 of a soft sandy soil, and the meadows of black rich alluvial loam. 

 There are many beautiful flowers, and many bees to sip their 

 nectar. We found plenty of honey in the woods, and saw the 



