CROSSING THE LUAPULA. 763 



The report that the men give of this mighty river makes us 

 instinctively bend our eyes on the dark burden laid in the 

 canoe. How ardently would he have scanned it whose body 

 thus passes across these waters, and whose spirit, in its last 

 hours' sojourn in this world, wandered in thought and imagina- 

 tion to its stream ! 



It would seem that the Luapula at this point is double the 

 width of the Zambesi at Shupanga. This gives a breadth of 

 fully four miles. A man could not be seen on the opposite 

 bank : trees looked small : a gun could be heard, but no shout- 

 ing would ever reach a person across the river — such is the 

 description given by men who were well able to compare the 

 Luapula with the Zambesi. Taking to the canoes, they were 

 able to use the " m'phondo," or punting pole, for a distance 

 through reeds, then came clear deep water for some four hun- 

 dred yards, again a broad reedy expanse, followed by another 

 deep part, succeeded in turn by another current not so broad as 

 those previously paddled across, and then, as on the starting 

 side, gradually shoaling water, abounding in reeds. Two 

 islands lay just above the crossing-place. Using pole and pad- 

 dle alternately, the passage took them fully two hours across 

 this enormous torrent, which carries off the waters of Bangweolo 

 towards the north. 



A sad mishap befell the donkey the first night of camping 

 beyond the Luapula, and this faithful and sorely-tried servant 

 was doomed to end his career at this spot. 



According to custom, a special stable was built for him close 

 to the men. In the middle of the night a great disturbance, 

 coupled with the shouting of Amoda, aroused the camp. The 

 men rushed out and found the stable broken down and the 

 donkey gone. Snatching some logs, they set fire to the grass, 

 as it was pitch dark, and by the light saw a lion close to the 

 body of the poor animal, which was quite dead. Those who 

 had caught up their guns on the first alarm fired a volley, and 

 the lion made off. It was evident that the donkey had been 

 seized by the nose and instantly killed. At daylight the spoor 

 showed that the guns had taken effect. The lion's blood lay in 

 a broad track (for he was apparently injured in the back, and 

 could only drag himself along) ; but the footprints of a second 



