Chap. XV. NAVIGATION OF THE LEEAMBYE. 179 



due east of this point. As we had been informed that he waa 

 in the habit of seizing orphans and friendless persons, and 

 selling them for clothing to the Mambari, we resolved to send 

 a party of our own people to see the captives safely among 

 their relatives. The party consisted of Mosantu, a Batoka 

 man, and his companions ; the Barotse being unwilling to go, 

 since they owed allegiance to Masiko as the son of Santuru, 

 and would be considered rebels while continuing with the Ma- 

 kololo. I sent a message by Mosantu to the effect that " I was 

 sorry to find that Santuru had not borne a wiser son. Santuru 

 loved to govern men, but Masiko wanted to govern wild beasts 

 only, as he sold his people to the Mambari." I also urged him 

 to live in peace, and to prevent his people kidnapping the 

 children and canoes of the Makololo, as such acts would lead 

 to war. We ferried Mosantu over to the left bank of the 

 Leeba. The journey required five days, at the rate of ten or 

 twelve miles a day, which was as much as the children, who 

 were between seven and eight years of age, were able to 

 accomplish. 



We were now about to leave the Zambesi, which from this 

 point turns eastwards, while our course was directed to the 

 north-west. Before proceeding, however, we will briefly de- 

 scribe the character of the river. From its confluence with 

 the. Leeba, down to Mosioatiinya, there are several long 

 reaches where vessels equal in size to the Thames steamers 

 eould freely run ; for even at this high point the river is fre- 

 quently as broad as the Thames at London Bridge. There are, 

 however, many and serious obstacles to a continued navigation 

 for hundreds of miles at a stretch. Below the confluence of 

 the Loeti, for instance, there are large sandbanks; and again, 

 between Simah and Katima-molelo there are five or six rapids 

 with cataracts, one of which, Gonye, could not be passed at 

 any time without portage. Beyond Katima-molelo to the con- 

 fluence of the Chobe, the river might be navigated for nearly 

 a hundred miles, in the same way as in the Barotse valley. 

 This part of the river may not present a very inviting pro- 

 spect for extemporaneous European enterprise; but surely, 

 when we remember that this country was pronounced by geo 

 graphers to be a vast sandy desert, and that instead of this 

 we find it remarkably fertile, and furnished with a highway 



