Chap. XXVIII. DEVICES FOR KILLING GAME. 575 



high trees overhanging the paths by which the elephants come, 

 and then use a large spear with a handle nearly as thick as a 

 man's wrist, and four or five feet long. When the animal comes 

 beneath they throw the spear, and if it enters between the ribs 

 above, as the blade is at least twenty inches long by two broad, 

 the motion of the handle, as it is aided by knocking against 

 the trees, makes frightful gashes within, and soon causes death. 

 They kill them also by means of a spear, inserted in a beam of 

 wood, which, being suspended on the branch of a tree by a cord 

 attached to a latch fastened in the path, and intended to be 

 struck by the animal's foot, leads to the fall of the beam, and, 

 the spear being poisoned, causes death in a few hours. 



We were detained by continuous rains several days at this 

 island. The clouds rested upon the tops of the hills as they came 

 from the eastward, and then poured down plenteous showers on 

 the valleys below. As soon as we could move, Tomba Nyama, 

 the head-man of the island, volunteered the loan of a canoe to 

 cross a small river, called the Chongwe, which we found to be 

 about fifty or sixty yards broad and flooded. All this part of the 

 country was well known to Sekwebu, and he informed us that, 

 when he passed through it as a boy, the inhabitants possessed 

 abundance of cattle, and there were no tsetse. The existence of 

 the insect now, shows that it may return in company with the 

 larger game. The vegetation along the bank was exceedingly 

 rank, and the bushes so tangled that it was difficult to get on. 

 The paths had been made by the wild animals alone, for the 

 general pathway of the people is the river, in their canoes. We 

 usually followed the footpaths of the game, and of these there 

 was no lack. Buffaloes, zebras, pallahs, and waterbucks abound, 

 and there is also a great abundance of wild pigs, koodoos, and 

 the black antelope. We got one buffalo, as he was rolling him- 

 self in a pool of mud. He had a large piece of skin torn off his 

 flank, it was believed by an alligator. 



We were struck by the fact that, as soon as we came between 

 the ranges of hills which flank the Zambesi, the rains felt warm. 

 At sunrise the thermometer stood at from 82° to 86° ; at midday, in 

 the coolest shade, namely, in my little tent, under a shady tree, at 

 96° to 98° ; and at sunset it was 86°. This is different from any- 

 thing we experienced in the interior, for these rains always bring 



