Chap. I. BIRDS AND BEASTS ON RIVER. 29 



The round green top of the stately palm-tree looks at a 

 distance, when its grey trunk cannot be seen, as though hun° - 

 in mid-air. Many flocks of busy sandmartins, which here, 

 and as far south as the Orange River, do not migrate, have 

 perforated the banks two or three feet horizontally, in order 

 to place their nests at the ends, and are now chasing on rest- 

 less wing the myriads of tropical insects. The broad river 

 has many low islands, on which are seen various kinds of 

 waterfowl, such as geese, spoonbills, herons, and flamingoes. 

 Eepulsive crocodiles, as with, open jaws they sleep and bask 

 in the sun on the low banks, soon catch the sound of the 

 revolving paddles and glide quietly into the stream. The 

 hippopotamus, having selected some still reach of the river 

 to spend the day, rises from the bottom, where he has been 

 enjoying his morning bath after the labours of the night on 

 shore, blows a puff of spray out of his nostrils, shakes the 

 water out of his ears, puts his enormous snout up straight 

 and yawns, sounding a loud alarm to the rest of the herd, 

 with notes as of a monster bassoon. 



As we approach Mazaro the scenery improves. We see 

 the well-wooded Shupanga ridge stretching to the left, and 

 in front blue hills rise dimly far in the distance. There is no 

 trade whatever on the Zambesi below Mazaro. All the 

 merchandise of Senna and Tette is brought to that point in 

 large canoes, and thence carried six miles across the country 

 on men's heads to be reshipped on a small stream that 

 flows into the Kwakwa, or Quillimane river, which is entirely 

 distinct from the Zambesi. Only on rare occasions and 

 during the highest floods can canoes pass from the Zambesi 

 to the Quillimane river through the narrow natural canal 

 Mutu. The natives of Mantra or the country around Mazaro, 

 the word Mazaro meaning the "mouth of the creek" 



