594 CROSSING THE ZAMBESI. Chap. XXTX. 



tell me about him; but you shall cross." Mpende said fre- 

 quently he was sorry he had not known me sooner, but that he 

 had been prevented by his enchanter from coming near me ; and 

 he lamented that the same person had kept him from eating the 

 meat which I had presented. He did everything he could after- 

 wards to aid us on our course, and our departure was as different 

 as possible from our approach to his village. I was very much 

 pleased to find the English name spoken of with such great 

 respect so far from the coast, and most thankful that no collision 

 occurred to damage its influence. 



2-ith. — Mpende sent two of his principal men to order the 

 people of a large island below to ferry us across. The river is 

 very broad, and, though my men were well acquainted with the 

 management of canoes, we could not all cross over before dark. 

 It is 1200 yards from bank to bank, and between 700 and 800 

 of deep water, flowing at the rate of 3f miles per hour. We 

 landed first on an island, then, to prevent our friends playing 

 false with us, hauled the canoes up to our bivouac, and slept in 

 them. Next morning we all reached the opposite bank hi safety. 

 We observed as we came along the Zambesi that it had fallen two 

 feet below the height at which we first found it, and the water, 

 though still muddy enough to deposit a film at the bottom of vessels 

 in a few hours, is not nearly so red as it was, nor is there so much 

 wreck on its surface. It is therefore not yet the period of the 

 central Zambesi inundation, as we were aware also from our know- 

 ledge of the hiterior. The present height of the water has been 

 caused by rains outside the eastern ridge. The people here seem 

 abundantly supplied with English cotton goods. The Babisa are 

 the medium of trade, for we were informed that the Bazunga, who 

 formerly visited these parts, have been prevented by the war from 

 coming for the last two years. The Babisa are said to be so fond 

 of a tusk that they will even sell a newly married wife for one. 

 As we were now not far from the latitude of Mozambique, I was 

 somewhat tempted to strike away from the river to that port, 

 instead of going to the S.E. in the direction the river flows, but, 

 the great object of my journey being to secure water carriage, I 

 resolved to continue along the Zambesi, though it did lead me 

 among the enemies of the Portuguese. The region to the north 

 of the ranges of hills on our left is called Senga, from being the 



