REACH THE COAST. Chap. I. 



CHAPTEE I. 



Arrival at the Zambesi — Eebel Warfare — Wild Animals — Shupanga — 

 Hippopotamus Hunters — The Makololo — Crocodiles. 



The Expedition left England on the 10th of March, 1858, 

 in Her Majesty's Colonial Steamer "Pearl," commanded 

 by Captain Duncan; and, after enjoying the generous 

 hospitality of our friends at Cape Town, with the obliging 

 attentions of Sir George Grey, and receiving on board Mr. 

 Francis Skead, E.N., as surveyor, we reached the East 

 Coast in the following May. 



Our first object was to explore the Zambesi, its mouths 

 and tributaries, with a view to their being used as high- 

 ways for commerce and Christianity to pass into the vast 

 interior of Africa. When we came within five or six 

 miles of the land, the yellowish-green tinge of the sea in 

 soundings was suddenly succeeded by muddy water with 

 wrack, as of a river in flood. The two colours did not 

 intermingle, but the line of contact was as sharply defined 

 as when the ocean meets the land. It was observed that 

 under the wrack — consisting of reeds, sticks, and leaves, — 

 and even under floating cuttlefish bones and Portuguese 

 "men-of-war" (Physalia), numbers of small fish screen 

 themselves from the eyes of birds of prey, and from the 

 rays of the torrid sun. 



We entered the river Luawe first, because its entrance 

 is so smooth and deep, that the " Pearl," drawing 9 feet 7 



