268 ALLIGATORS. Chap. XV. 



any of the lagoons in the Barotse valley, or a man or dog going 

 in for the purpose of bringing out a dead one, is almost sure to 

 be seized, though the alligators may not appear on the surface. 

 When employed in looking for food they keep out of sight ; they 

 fish chiefly by night. When eating, they make a loud champing 

 noise, which when once heard is never forgotten. 



The young, which had come out of the nests where we spent 

 the night, did not appear wary ; they were about ten inches 

 long, with yellow eyes, and pupil merely a perpendicular slit. 

 They were all marked with transverse stripes of pale green and 

 brown, half an inch broad. When speared, they bit the weapon 

 savagely, though their teeth were but partially developed, 

 uttering at the same time a sharp bark, like that of a whelp 

 when it first begins to use its voice. I could not ascertain 

 whether the dam devours them, as reported, or whether the 

 ichneumon has the same reputation here as in Egypt. Probably 

 the Barotse and Bayeiye would not look upon it as a bene- 

 factor ; they prefer to eat the eggs themselves, and be their own 

 ichneumons. The white of the egg does not coagulate, but the 

 yolk does, and tins is the only part eaten. 



As the population increases the alligators will decrease, for 

 their nests will be oftener found ; the principal check on their 

 inordinate multiplication seems to be man. They are more 

 savage and commit more mischief in the Leeambye, than in any 

 other river. After dancing long in the moonlight nights, young 

 men run down to the water to wash off the dust, and cool them- 

 selves before going to bed, and are thus often carried away. 

 One wonders they are not afraid ; but the fact is, they have as 

 little sense of danger impending over them as the hare has when 

 not actually pursued by the hound ; and in many rencontres, in 

 which they escape, they had not time to be afraid, and only 

 laugh at the circumstance afterwards : there is a want of calm 

 reflection. In many cases, not referred to in this book, I feel 

 more horror now in thinking on dangers I have run, than I did 

 at the time of their occurrence. 



When we reached the part of the river opposite to the village 

 of Manenko, the first female chief whom we encountered, two of 

 the people called Balunda, or Balonda, came to us in their little 

 canoe. From them we learned that Kolimbota, one of our party, 



