1G0 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. VII. 



17th December. — We went on through a bushy country 

 without paths, and struck the Pamazi, a river of sixty yards 

 wide, in steep banks and in flood, and held on as well as we 

 could through a very difficult country, the river forcing us 

 north-west : I heard hippopotami in it. Game is abun- 

 dant but wild; we shot two poku antelopes* here, called 

 " tsebulas," which drew a hunter to us, who consented for 

 meat and pay to show us a ford. He said that the Pamazi 

 rises in a range of mountains we can now see (in general 

 we could see no high ground during our marches for the 

 last fortnight), we forded it, thigh deep on one side and 

 breast deep on the other. We made only about three 

 miles of northing, and found the people on the left bank 

 uncivil : they would not lend a hut, so we soon put up a 

 tent of waterproof cloth and branches. 



IStli December. — As the men grumbled at their feet 

 being pierced by thorns in the trackless portions we had 

 passed I was anxious to get a guide, but the only one we 

 could secure would go to Molenga's only ; so I submitted, 

 though this led us east instead of north. When we arrived 

 we were asked what we wanted, seeing we brought neither 

 slaves nor ivory : I replied it was much against our will 

 that we came ; but the guide had declared that this was 

 the only way to Casembe's, our next stage. To get rid of 

 us they gave a guide, and Ave set forward northwards. 

 The Mopane Forest is perfectly level, and after rains the 

 water stands in pools ; but during most of the year it is 

 dry. The trees here were very large, and planted some 

 twenty or thirty yards apart : as there are no branches on 

 their lower parts animals see very far. I shot a gnu, but 

 wandered in coming back to the party, and did not find 

 them till it was getting dark. Many parts of the plain 

 are thrown up into heaps, of about the size of one's cap 



Ileleotrasris Vardonii. 



