Chap. III. EXPLORATION OF THE SHIRE. 75 



turned to the exploration of the river Shire, a northern tri- 

 butary of the Zambesi, which joins it about a hundred miles 

 from the sea. We could learn nothing satisfactory from the 

 Portuguese regarding this affluent; no one, they said, had 

 ever been up it, nor could they tell whence it came. Years ago 

 a Portuguese expedition is said, however, to have attempted 

 the ascent, but to have abandoned it on account of the 

 impenetrable duckweed (Pistia stratiotes). Many asserted, 

 on the strength of this, that not even canoes could force their 

 way through the masses of aquatic plants that covered its 

 surface. Others, however, hinted in a private way that 

 it was not the duckweed which drove back the expe- 

 dition, but the poisoned arrows by which the hostile 

 natives repulsed the Portuguese with heavy loss. No one 

 sent native traders up the Shire, nor had intercourse with 

 the treacherous savages who lived on its banks. A merchant 

 of Senna told us that he once fitted out a trading party which 

 went a short distance up the river, but the men of it were 

 robbed and barely escaped with their lives. " Our Govern- 

 ment," said one Commandant, " has sent us orders to assist 

 and protect you, but you go where we dare not follow, and 

 how can we protect you?" We could not learn from any 

 record that the Shire had ever been ascended by Europeans. 

 As far, therefore, as we were concerned, the exploration was 

 absolutely new. All the Portuguese believed the Manganja 

 to be brave but bloodthirsty savages ; and on our return we 

 found that soon after our departure a report was widely 

 spread that our temerity had been followed by fatal results, 

 Dr. Livingstone having been shot, and Dr. Kirk mortally 

 wounded by poisoned arrows. 



Our first trip to the Shire was in January, 1859. A 

 considerable quantity of duckweed floated down the river 



