602 BOROMA'S VILLAGE. Chap. XXIX. 



often cleared up after that, admitting of our moving on a few 

 miles. A continuous rain of several hours then set in. The 

 wind up to tins point was always fi-om the east, but both rain and 

 wind now came so generally from the west, or opposite direction 

 to what we had been accustomed to in the interior, that we were 

 obliged to make our encampment face the east, in order to have 

 them in our backs. The country adjacent to the river abounds 

 in large trees ; but the population is so numerous, that those left 

 being all green, it is difficult to get dry firewood. On coming to 

 some places, too, we were warned by the villagers not to cut the 

 trees growing in certain spots, as they contained the graves of 

 their ancestors. There are many tamarind-trees, and another 

 very similar, winch yields a fruit as large as a small walnut, of 

 winch the elephants are very fond. It is called Motondo, and the 

 Portuguese extol its timber as excellent for building boats, as it 

 does not soon rot in water. 



On the 6th we came to the village of Boroma, which is situated 

 among a number of others, each surrounded by extensive patches 

 of cultivation. On the opposite side of the river we have a great 

 cluster of conical hills called Chorichori. Boroma did not make 

 his appearance, but sent a substitute who acted civilly. I sent 

 Sekwebu in the morning to state that we intended to move on ; 

 Ins mother replied that, as she had expected that we should re- 

 main, no food was ready, but she sent a basket of corn and a fowl. 

 As an excuse why Boroma did not present himself, she said that 

 he was seized that morning by the Barimo, which probably meant 

 that his lordship was drunk. 



We marched along the river to a point opposite the lull Pinkwe 

 (lat. 15° 39' 11" S., long. 31° 48' E.), but the late abundant rains 

 now flooded the Zambesi again, and great quantities of wreck 

 appeared upon the stream. It is probable that frequent freshets, 

 caused by the rains on this side of the ridge, have prevented 

 the Portuguese near the coast, from recognising the one peculiar 

 flood of inundation observed in the interior, and caused the belief 

 that it is flooded soon after the commencement of the rains. The 

 course of the Nile being in the opposite direction to this, it does 

 not receive these subsidiary waters, and hence its inundation is 

 recognised all the way along its course. If the Leeambye were 

 prolonged southwards into the Cape Colony, its flood would be 



