160 BANKS OF THE CHOBE— TREES. Chap. XIII. 



dries up so as to become fordable. At certain points, where 

 the partial absence of reeds affords a view of the opposite 

 banks, the Makololo have placed villages of observation to 

 keep a look-out for their enemies the Matebele. We visited 

 all these settlements, and found that everywhere orders had 

 preceded us, " that Xake (which means doctor) must not be 

 allowed to become hungry." 



The Chobe, like the Zouga, runs through soft calcareous 

 tufa, and has cut out for itself a deep, perpendicular-sided 

 bed. Where the banks are high, they are covered with mag- 

 nificent trees, the habitat of tsetse, and the retreat of varioup 

 antelopes, wild hogs, zebras, buffaloes, and elephants. Among 

 the trees may be observed some species of the Fious indica, 

 light-green coloured acacias, the splendid motsintsela, and 

 evergreen cypress-shaped motsouri. The fruit of the motsouri 

 was ripe, and the villagers presented many dishes of its 

 beautiful pink-coloured plums, which are chiefly used to form 

 a pleasant acid drink. The motsintsela is a lofty tree, and 

 yields a wood of which good canoes are made. The fruit is 

 nutritious, but the fleshy parts require to be enlarged by cuJ 

 tivation : it is nearly all stone. 



The course of the stream was extremely tortuous, and 

 carried us to all points of the compass every dozen miles. 

 Some of us walked in six hours from a bend at the village ol 

 Moremi to a place which it took the canoes just twice the 

 time to reach, though they moved at more than double our 

 speed. The suddenness of the bendings in the river would 

 prevent steam navigation ; but, should the country ever be- 

 come civilised, it would be a convenient natural canal. 



The precise place of confluence of the Chobe and the 

 Zambesi is ill defined, on account of each dividing into 

 several branches as they inosculate. The former, up to its 

 junction, is of a dark mossy hue. Here it suddenly assumes a 

 lighter tint, indicative of a greater amount of mineral derived 

 from a dyke of amygdaloid which exists at this point. The 

 mass contains crystals, which the stream gradually dissolves, 

 leaving the rock with a wormeaten appearance. Wherever 

 the water has this mineral quality, there are not mosquitoes 

 enough to annoy any person who is not of a very irritable 

 temperament. 



