1849-52.] KOLOBENG—LAKE 'NGAMI. 113 



his daughter, Ma-mochisane. From her he received liberty 

 to visit any part of the country he chose. While waiting 

 for a reply (she was residing at a distance), he one day 

 fell into a great danger from an elephant which had come 

 on him unexpectedly. " We were startled by his coming 

 a little way in the direction in which we were standing, 

 but he did not give us chase. I have had many escapes. 

 We seem immortal till our work is done." 



Mr. Oswell and he then proceeded in a north-easterly 

 direction, passing through the town of Linyanti, and on 

 the 3d of August they came on the beautiful river 

 at Sesh^ke : — 



"We thanked God for permitting us to see this glorious river. 

 All we said to each other was ' How glorious ! how magnificent ! how 

 beautiful ! ' ... In crossing, the waves lifted up the canoe and made 

 it roll beautifully. The scenery of the Firths of Forth and Clyde was 

 brought vividly to my view, and had I been fond of indulging in 

 sentimental effusions, my lachrymal apparatus seemed fully charged. 

 But then the old man who was conducting us across might have said, 

 ' What on earth are you blubbering for 1 Afraid of these crocodiles, 

 eh 1 ' The little sentimentality which exceeded was forced to take its 

 course down the inside of the nose. We have other work in this 

 world than indulging in sentimentality of the ' Sonnet to the Moon ' 

 variety." 



The river which went here by the name of Sesheke 

 was found to be the Zambesi, which had not previously 

 been known to exist in that region. In writing about it 

 to his brother Charles, he says, " It was the first river I 

 ever saw." Its discovery in this locality constituted one 

 of the great geographical feats with which the name of 

 Livingstone is connected. He heard of rapids above, and 

 of great waterfalls below : but it was reserved for him on 

 a future visit to behold the great Victoria Falls, which 

 in the popular imagination have filled a higher place than 

 many of his more useful discoveries. 



The travellers were still a good many days' distance 

 from Ma-mochisane, without whose presence nothing 

 could be settled ; but besides, the reedy banks of the 



H 



