Chap. XXVI. A THUNDERSTORM. 515 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Departure from Linyanti — A thunderstorm — An act of genuine kindness 



— Fitted out a second time by the Makololo — Sail down the Leeambye — 

 Sekote's kotla and human skulls ; his grave adorned with elephants' tusks — 

 Victoria Falls — Native names — ■ Columns of vapour — Gigantic crack — 

 "Wear of the rocks — Shrines of the Barimo — " The Pestle of the Gods" 



— Second visit to the falls — Island garden — Store-house Island — 



— Native diviners — An European diviner — Makololo foray — Marauder 

 to be fined — Mambari — Makololo wish to stop Mambari slave-trading — 

 Part with Sekeletu — Night travelling — River Lekoue — Ancient fresh- 

 water lakes — Formation of Lake Ngami — Native traditions — Drainage 

 of the great valley — Native reports of the country to the north — Maps 



— Moyara's village — Savage customs of the Batoka — A chain of trading- 

 stations — Remedy against tsetsj — " The Well of Joy " — First traces of 

 trade with Europeans — Knocking out the front teeth — Facetious expla- 

 nation — Degradation of the Batoka — Description of the travelling party 



— Cross the Unguesi — Geological formation — Ruins of a large town — 

 Productions of the soil similar to those in Angola — Abundance of fruit. 



On the 3rd of November we bade adieu to our friends at 

 Linyanti, accompanied by Sekeletu and about 200 followers. 

 We were all fed at his expense, and he took cattle for this 

 purpose from every station we came to. The principal men of 

 the Makololo ; Lebeole, Nftlarie, Nkwatlele, &c, were also of the 

 party. We passed through the patch of the tsetse, which exists 

 between Linyanti and Sesheke, by night. The majority of the com- 

 pany went on by daylight, in order to prepare our beds. Sekeletu 

 and I, with about forty young men, waited outside the tsetse till 

 dark. We then went forward, and about ten o'clock it became 

 so pitchy dark, that both horses and men were completely blinded. 

 The lightning spread over the sky, forming eight or ten branches 

 at a time, in shape exactly like those of a tree. This, with great 

 volumes of sheet-lightning, enabled us at times to see the whole 

 country. The intervals between the flashes were so densely dark, 

 as to convey the idea of stone-blindness. The horses trembled, 

 cried out, and turned round, as if searching for each other, and 

 every new flash revealed the men taking different directions, 

 lauglung, and stumbling against each other. The thunder was of 



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