376 THE ZAMBESI— ISLAND OF MEN YE. Chap. XXTIIL 



hurry. I never saw an elephant with more than one calf 

 before. We knew that we were approaching the Zambesi by 

 the numbers of water-fowl we met. I killed four geese at 

 two shots, and, had I followed the wishes of my men, could 

 have secured a meal of water-fowl for the whole party. I 

 never saw a river with so much animal life around and in it, 

 and, as the Barotse say, " Its fish and fowl are always fat." 

 When our eyes were gladdened by a view of its goodly waters, 

 we found it very much larger than above the falls. Its flow 

 was more rapid than near Sesheke, being often four and a half 

 miles an hour, and the water was of a deep brownish red. In 

 the great valley, where the adjacent country is all level, and 

 the soil, being generally covered with dense herbage, is not 

 abraded, the river never becomes of this colour ; but on the 

 eastern ridge, where the grass is short, and the soil is washed 

 down by the streams, the discoloration which we now view 

 ensues. The same thing occurs on the western ridge : no 

 discoloration was observed till we reached the Quango ; and 

 this obtains its matter from the western slope of the western 

 ridge, just as the Zambesi here receives its soil from the 

 eastern slope of the eastern ridge. We struck upon the river 

 about eight miles east of the confluence with the Kafue, and, 

 pursuing our course down the left bank, came opposite to an 

 island, Menye makaba, about a mile and a half long, and 

 upwards of a quarter of a mile broad. This island sustains, 

 in addition to its inhabitants, a herd of about sixty buffaloes, 

 who are always prepared to show fight whenever an attempt 

 is made to punish them for depredations committed on the 

 gardens. The only time at which they can be attacked with 

 success is when the island is partly flooded and the pursuers 

 can assail them out of canoes. The comparatively small 

 space to which they are confined shows the luxuriance of the 

 vegetation ; for were they in want of more pasture, they 

 could easily swim across to the northern bank, which is not 

 much more than 200 yards distant. 



Ranges of hills now run parallel with the Zambesi, at a 

 distance from each other of about fifteen miles, those on the 

 north approaching nearest to the river. The inhabitants on 

 that side are the Batonga, those on the south bank are the 

 Banyai. The hills abound in buffaloes and elephants, and 



