CHAPTER XVII. 



THE KEBRABASA RAPIDS. 



The Journey to the Kebrabasa — Kebrabasa Range — General Appearance — 

 Breadth — Pressure of Water — Portuguese Ignorance — Banyai Impositions — 

 " Dreadful Rough " a Night — Camp Scenes — A Camp Story — The Morning — 

 Climbing Still — Sleep of Exhaustion — Makololo Distrust — Mount Morumbwa 

 — A Perpetual Barrier — Return to Tete — Scenes in Tete — Superstition — The 

 Teaching of Nature — Holiness — Christmas in Africa — The Climax of Absurdi- 

 ties — The Rainy Season — The Portuguese Recourse — A Serious Matter — The 

 Help for Fever — The Shire. 



It will be remembered that in descending the Zambesi, in 

 1856, Dr. Livingstone turned southward in the neighborhood 

 of the hills, and only came to the river again at Tete. He had 

 not, therefore, seen the Kebrabasa rapids, and such were the 

 reports concerning them that he shared fully the curiosity of 

 his companions, and they resolved to take advantage of the 

 peculiarly favorable opportunity of the Zambesi being unusually 

 low to ascertain their character while uncovered by water. As 

 far as Panda-Moqua, about forty miles above Tete, they sailed 

 along quite comfortably, and looked with admiration on the 

 splendidly-wooded hills which greeted the eye on either bank. 

 The rapids, which have derived their name — which signifies 

 "finish, or break the service" — from the difficulty experienced 

 in carrying all articles of trade around them, over land, to 

 Chicova, are in the midst of the lofty Kebrabasa range, which 

 consists chiefly of conical hills covered with scraggy trees. 

 " This range crosses the Zambesi nearly at right angles, and 

 confines it within a narrow, rough, and rocky dell of about a 

 quarter of a mile in breadth, over which large masses of rock 

 are huddled in indescribable confusion. The chief rock is 

 syenite, some portions of which have a beautiful blue tinge like 

 lapus lazuli diffused through them ; others are gray. Blocks of 

 granite also abound, of a pinkish tinge ; and these, with meta- 

 morphic rocks, contorted, twisted, and thrown into every con- 



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