Chap. XXVI. DIVINERS, NATIVE AND EUROPEAN. 525 



when left in charge of my Makololo friends, they were always 

 allowed to wither, after having vegetated, by being forgotten. I 

 bargained for a hedge with one of the Makololo, and if he is 

 faithful, I have great hopes of Mosioatunya's abilities as a nur- 

 seryman. My only source of fear is the hippopotami, whose foot- 

 prints I saw on the island. When the garden was prepared, I cut 

 my initials on a tree, and the date 1855. This was the only in- 

 stance in which I indulged in this piece of vanity. The garden 

 stands in front, and were there no hippopotami, I have no doubt 

 but this will be the parent of all the gardens, which may yet be 

 in this new country. We then went up to Kalai again. 



On passing up we had a view of the hut on the island, where 

 my goods had lain so long in safety. It was under a group of 

 palm-trees, and Sekeletu informed me that, so fully persuaded 

 were most of the Makololo of the presence of dangerous charms 

 in the packages, that, had I not returned to tell them the con- 

 trary, they never would have been touched. Some of the diviners 

 had been so positive in their decisions on the point, that the men 

 who lifted a bag thought they felt a live kid in it. The diviners 

 always quote their predictions when thay happen to tally with 

 the event. They declared that the whole party which went to 

 Loanda had perished ; and as I always quoted the instances in 

 which they failed, many of them refused to throw the " bola " (in- 

 struments of divination) when I was near. This was a noted instance 

 of failure. It would have afforded me equal if not greater pleasure 

 to have exposed the failure, if such it had been, of the European 

 diviner whose paper lay a whole year on this island, but I was 

 obliged to confess that he had been successful with his " bola," 

 and could only comfort myself with the idea that, though Sir 

 Roderick Murehison's discourse had lain so long within sight and 

 sound of the magnificent falls, I had been " cut out " by no one 

 in their discovery. 



I saw the falls at low water, and the columns of vapour, when 

 five or six miles distant. When the river is full, or in flood, the 

 columns, it is said, can be seen ten miles off, and the sound is 

 quite distinct somewhat beyond Kalai, or about an equal distance. 

 No one can then go to the island in the middle. The next 

 visitor must bear these points in mind in comparing his descrip- 

 tion with mine. 



