Chap. VIII. UANKS OF THE CHOBE. ill) 



in the south, in order to get a bed and a view of the adjacent 

 locality. Having shot a leche, and made a glorious fire, we 

 had a good cup of tea and a comfortable night. While col- 

 lecting wood I found a bird's nest consisting of live leaves 

 sewn together with films of the spider's web. The threads 

 had been pushed through small punctures and thickened to 

 resemble a knot. Nothing could exceed the airiness of this 

 pretty contrivance. I unfortunately lost it. This was the 

 second nest I had seen resembling that of the tailor-bird of India 



On climbing the highest trees next morning we beheld a 

 large sheet of water, surrounded on all sides by the same 

 impenetrable belt of reeds. This is the broad part of the 

 river Chobe, and is called Zabesa. Our first effort was to get 

 to two tree-covered islands which seemed much nearer to the 

 water than the point where we stood. The reeds were not 

 the only obstacle to our progress. Mingled with them was a 

 peculiar serrated grass, which at certain angles cut the hands 

 like a razor, and the entire mass was bound together by the 

 climbing convolvulus, with its stalks as strong as whipcord. 

 We felt like pigmies in this tall dense thicket of vegetation, 

 and often the only way we could get on was for both of us to 

 lean against the barrier, and bend it down till we could stand 

 upon it. There was no ventilation among the reeds, and as 

 the sun rose high the heat was stifling. The perspiration 

 streamed from our bodies, and the water, which was up to our 

 knees, felt agreeably refreshing. After several hours of toil 

 we reached one of the islands. Here we met an old friend, 

 the bramble-bush. The legs of my companion were bleeding, 

 and his leather trowsers were torn. My own, which were ol 

 strong moleskin, were worn through at the knees, and, tearing 

 my handkerchief in two, I tied the pieces round the holes. 

 We were still forty or fifty yards from the clear water, and 

 now encountered another difficulty. We were opposed by 

 great masses of papyrus, eight or ten feet high, and an inch 

 and a half in diameter, and so strongly laced together by 

 twining convolvulus, that the weight of both of us had no 

 effect upon them. At last we found a passage prepared by a 

 hippopotamus. Eager to look along the vista to clear water, 

 I stepped in and found it took me at once up to the neck. 



Returning nearly worn out, wo proceeded up the bank of 



