Chap. II. 



EXAMINATION OF THE RAPIDS. 



55 



rocks so firmly that, though they looked quite loose, they 

 could not be moved except with a hammer. The mighty 

 power of the water here seen gave us an idea of what is 

 going on in thousands of cataracts in the world. All the 

 information we had been able to obtain from our Portu- 

 guese friends amounted to this, that some three or four 

 detached rocks jutted out of the river in Kebrabasa, which, 

 though dangerous to the cumbersome native canoes, could be 

 easily passed by a steamer, and that if one or two of these 

 obstructions were blasted away with gunpowder, no difficulty 

 would hereafter be experienced. After we had painfully ex- 

 plored seven or eight miles of the rapid, we returned to the 

 vessel satisfied that much greater labour was requisite for the 

 mere examination of the cataracts than our friends supposed 

 necessary to remove them ; we therefore went down the river 

 for fresh supplies, and made preparation for a more serious 

 survey of this region. 



The steamer having returned from the bar, we set out on 

 the 22nd of November to examine the rapids of Kebrabasa.* 

 We reached the foot of the hills again, late in the afternoon 

 of the 24th, and anchored in the stream. Canoe-men never 

 sleep on the river, but always spend the night on shore. The 

 natives on the right bank, in the country called Shidima, who 

 are Banyai, and even at this short distance from Tette, inde- 

 pendent, and accustomed to lord it over Portuguese traders, 

 wondered what could be our object in remaining afloat, and 

 were naturally suspicious at our departing from the universal 

 custom. 



* The word as pronounced by the 

 natives is Kaora-basa, " finish or break 

 the service." The Portuguese word 

 Kebra (quebra) means the same thing, 



and refers to the break which occurs 

 in the labour of toiling up thus far in 

 heavy canoes and then carrying the 

 luggage hence overland to Chicova. 



