THE RAINY SEASON. 357 



Africa. Herodotus only expressed the climax of its absurdities, 

 in his view, when he wrote of the hidden land, " There wool 

 grows on the heads of men and hair on the backs of sheep." 

 Dr. Kirk divided the year in Africa into three seasons — the cold 

 period, lasting through May, June and July ; the hot, prevail- 

 ing through August, September and October; and the wet, 

 which extends through the remaining months. 



" The rainy season of Tete differs a little from that of some 

 of the other intertropical regions ; the quantity of rain-fall being 

 considerably less. It begins in November and ends in April. 

 During our first season in that place, only a little over nineteen 

 inches of rain fell. In an average year, and when the crops 

 are good, the fall amounts to about thirty-five inches. On 

 many days it does not rain at all, and rarely is it wet all day ; 

 some days have merely a passing shower, preceded and followed 

 by hot sunshine ; occasionally an interval of a week, or even a 

 fortnight, passes without a drop of rain, and then the crops 

 suffer from the sun. These partial droughts happen in Decem- 

 ber and January. The heat appears to increase to a certain 

 point in the different latitudes so as to necessitate a change, by 

 some law similar to that which regulates the intense cold in 

 other countries. The Zambesi is in flood twice in the course of 

 the year; the first flood, a partial one, attains its greatest height 

 about the end of December or beginning of January ; the 

 second, and greatest, occurs after the river inundates the interior, 

 in a manner similar to the overflow of the Nile, this rise not 

 taking place at Tete until March. The Portuguese say that the 

 greatest height which the March floods attain is thirty feet at 

 Tete, and this happens only about every fourth year; their 

 observations, however, have never been very accurate on any- 

 thing but ivory, and they have in this trusted entirely to 

 memory." 



The discoveries of Dr. Livingstone never sustained so great a 

 rise. It rises suddenly, and with the first flood dashes along 

 at four knots an hour, but gradually spreads over the surround- 

 ing country, and as it extends in breadth resumes its usual 

 velocity. Ordinarily the water of the river is singularly pure, 

 and exhibits not the slightest discoloration, except in the floods. 



The former reports of Dr. Livingstone were abundantly con- 



