1873.] DESPERATE WORK. 280 



pected. No grass, but we made a bed of the loads, and 

 a blanket fortunately put into a bag. 



25th March. — Nothing earthly will make me give up my 

 work in despair. I encourage myself in the Lord my God, 

 and go forward. 



We got off from our miserably small islet of ten yards 

 at 7 a.m., a grassy sea on all sides, with a few islets in the 

 far distance. Four varieties of rushes around us, triangular 

 and fluted, rise from eighteen inches to two feet above the 

 water. The caterpillars seem to eat each other, and a web 

 is made round others ; the numerous spiders may have been 

 the workmen of the nest. The wind on the rushes makes 

 a sound like the waves of the sea. The flood extends out 

 in slightly depressed arms of the Lake for twenty or thirty 

 miles, and far too broad to be seen across ; fish abound, and 

 ant-hills alone lift up their heads ; they have trees on them. 

 Lukutu flows from E. to W. to the Chambeze, as does the 

 Lubanseusi also. After another six hours' punting, over the 

 same wearisome prairie or Bouga, we heard the merry voices 

 of children. It was a large village, on a flat, which seems 

 flooded at times, but much cassava is planted on mounds, 

 made to protect the plants from the water, which stood 

 in places in the village, but we got a dry spot for the 

 tent. The people offered us huts. We had as usual a 

 smart shower on the way to Kasenga, where we slept. We 

 passed the Islet Luangwa. 



26th March. — We started at 7.30, and got into a large 

 stream out of the Chambeze, called Mabziwa. One canoe 

 sank in it, and we lost a slave girl of Amoda. Fished up 

 three boxes, and two guns, but the boxes being full of car- 

 tridges were much injured ; we lost the donkey's saddle too. 

 After this mishap we crossed the Lubanseusi, near its con- 

 fluence with the Chambeze, 300 yards wide and three 

 fathoms deep, and a slow current. We crossed the Cham- 

 beze. It is about 400 yards wide, Avith a quick clear 



VOL. II. u 



