112 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and the intelligent chief and the headmen of the tribe were wise enough 

 to understand the value of the counsel of their missionary friend, when he 

 advised the removal of the bulk of the tribe to a more elevated and healthy 

 locality. Such a position had to be sought for beyond the reach of the annual 

 inundations, which for a period transform the course of the river for miles 

 into lakes and swamps ; as when the waters subside, the miasma arising from 

 the wet soil and the rotting vegetation under a tropical sun makes the district 

 a hot-bed of fever and dysentery. Coming from the comparatively cold and 

 hilly region of the south, the Makololo suffered more severely from the effects 

 of the climate than the various tribes of Makalaka Sebituane had found living 

 in the district, and made subject to his rule. From choice they lived in the 

 neighbourhood of the river ; as their agriculture is entirely dependent on the 

 annual floods. They cultivate dura, a kind of grain, maize, beans, 

 ground-nuts, pumpkins, water-melons, and cucumbers ; and in the Barotse 

 valley, along the course of the Leeambye, the sugar-cane, sweet-potato, etc., 

 are added to the agricultural produce, the fertility of the soil being increased 

 by rude efforts at irrigation. 



Having collected thirty-three flat-bottomed canoes, capable of conveying 

 one hundred and sixty men, the imposing flotilla, rowed by Makalaka men, 

 who are more skilful watermen than the Makololo, moved rapidly up the 

 broad waters of the Leeambye ; the great explorer enjoying an exhilaration 

 of spirits natural to an adventurous man, who, first of all his countrymen, 

 passed up this noble stream, and who saw clearly the great and important 

 part which a magnificent natural highway like this would play in the civilizing 

 of the numerous tribes of Central Africa. At many places the river is more 

 than a mile broad, its surface broken by islands, small and large. The islands 

 and the banks are thickly covered with trees, among which are the date-palm, 

 with its gracefully curved fronds, and the lofty palmyra, with its feathery 

 mass of foliage towering over all. Elephants and the larger species of game 

 were very abundant, but in consequence of the presence of that destructive 

 insect, the tsetse, the villagers on the banks had no domestic cattle. The 

 inhabitants of the valley of the river here are known as Banyete, and are, 

 from their skill in making various utensils, the handicraftsmen of the neigh- 

 bouring tribes. They make neat wooden vessels with lids, wooden bowls, 

 and, after Livingstone had introduced the custom of sitting on stools, they 

 exercised their taste and ingenuity in the construction of these in a variety 

 of shapes. Wicker baskets made of the split roots of trees, and articles of 

 domestic and agricultural utility in pottery and iron, were also among the 

 products of their skill. Iron ore is dug out of the earth, and smelted, and 

 fashioned into rude hoes, almost the only implement of husbandry known at 

 the time of his visit. 



The Banyete never appear to have been a warlike people. War is either 



