342 LOSS OF THE BOAT. Chap. XII. 



to great heavy canoes, — the chief recommendation of 

 which is said to be, that they can be run against a rock 

 with the full force of the current without injury — were 

 very desirous to show how much better they could manage 

 our boat than the Makololo ; three jumped into her when 

 our backs were turned, and two hauled her up a little 

 way ; the tide caught her bow, we heard a shout of 

 distress, the rope was out of their hands in a moment, 

 and there she was, bottom upwards ; a turn or two in 

 an eddy, and away she went, like an arrow, down the 

 Cataracts. One of the men in swimming ashore saved a 

 rifle. The whole party ran with all their might along 

 the bank, but never more did we see our boat. 



The five performers in this catastrophe approached with 

 penitential looks. They had nothing to say, nor had we. 

 They bent down slowly, and touched our feet with both 

 hands. " Ku kuata moendo " — " to catch the foot " — is 

 their way of asking forgiveness. It was so like what we 

 have seen a little child do — try to bring a dish unbidden 

 to its papa, and letting it fall, burst into a cry of distress 

 — that they were only sentenced to go back to the ship, 

 get provisions, and, in the ensuing journey on foot, carry 

 as much as they could, and thus make up for the loss of 

 the boat. 



It was excessively annoying to lose all this property, 

 and be deprived of the means of doing the work proposed, 

 on the east and north of the Lake ; but it would have 

 been like crying over spilt milk to do otherwise now than 

 make the best use we could of our legs. The men were 

 sent back to the ship for provisions, cloth, and beads ; and 

 while they are gone, we may say a little of the Cataracts 

 which proved so fatal to our boating plan. 



