Chap. XY1II. SHIP DRAWS TOO MUCH WATER. 351 



pleased to see girls as well as boys taught to read the Koran. 

 The teacher said he was paid by the job, and received ten 

 dollars for teaching each child to read. The clever ones learn 

 in six months ; but the dull ones take a couple of years. 

 We next went over to Johanna for our friends ; and, 

 after a sojourn of a few days at the beautiful Comoro islands, 

 Ave sailed for the Kongone mouth of the Zambesi with Bishop 

 Mackenzie and his party. We reached the coast in seven 

 days, and passed up the Zambesi to the Shire. 



The Pioneer, constructed under the skilful supervision of 

 Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker and the late Admiral Washing- 

 ton, warm-hearted and highly esteemed friends of the Expe- 

 dition, was a very superior vessel, and well suited for our 

 work in every respect, except in her draught of water. 

 Five feet were found to be too much for the navigation 

 of the upper part of the Shire. Designed to draw three 

 feet only, the weight necessary to impart extra strength, 

 and fit her for the ocean, brought her down two feet 

 more, and caused us a great deal of hard and vexatious 

 work, in laying out anchors, and toiling at the capstan to get 

 her off sandbanks. We should not have minded this much, but 

 for the heavy loss of time which might have been more profit- 

 ably, and infinitely more pleasantly, spent in intercourse with 

 the people, exploring new regions, and otherwise carrying out 

 the objects of the Expedition. Once we were a fortnight on 

 a bank of soft yielding sand, having only two or three inches 

 less water than the ship drew ; this delay was occasioned by 

 the anchors coming home, and the current swinging the ship 

 broadside on the bank, which, immediately on our touching, 

 always formed behind us. We did not like to leave the ship 

 short of Chibisa's, lest the crew should suffer from the 

 malaria of the lowland around; and it would have been 

 difficult to have got the Mission goods carried up. We were 



