THE BAROTSE VAIAEY. 1 99 



This we crossed repeatedly, in order to make short cuts at 

 bends of the river. The course is however remarkably 

 straight among the rocks ; and here the river is shallow, 

 on account of the great breadth of surface which it covers. 

 When we came to about 16 16' S. latitude, the high 

 wooded banks seemed to leave the river, and no more 

 tsetse appeared. Viewed from the flat reedy basin in 

 which the river then flowed, the banks seemed prolonged 

 into ridges of the same wooded character two or three 

 hundred feet high, and stretched away to the N.N.E. and 

 N.N.W. until they were twenty or thirty miles apart. 

 The intervening space, nearly one hundred miles in length, 

 with the Leeambye winding gently near the middle, is the 

 true Barotse valley. It bears a close resemblance to the 

 valley of the Nile, and is inundated annually, not by 

 rains, but by the Leeambye, exactly as Lower Egypt is 

 flooded by the Nile. The villages of the Barotse are 

 built on mounds, some of which are said to have been 

 raised artificially by Santuru, a former chief of the Barotse, 

 and during the inundation the whole valley assumes the 

 appearance of a large lake, with the villages on the mounds 

 like islands, just as occurs in Egypt with the villages of 

 the Egyptians. Some portion of the waters of inundation 

 comes from the north-west, where great floodings also 

 occur, but more comes from the north and north-east, 

 descending the bed of the Iyeeambye itself. There are but 

 few trees in this valley : those which stand on the mounds 

 were nearly all transplanted by Santuru for shade. The 

 soil is extremely fertile, and the people are never in want 

 of grain, for, by taking advantage of the moisture of the 

 inundation, they can raise two crops a year. The Barotse 

 are strongly attached to this fertile valley ; they say, 

 " Here hunger is not known." There are so many things 

 besides corn which a man can find in it for food, that it is 

 no wonder they desert from L,inyanti to return to this 

 place. 



The great valley is not put to a tithe of the use it might 

 be. It is covered with coarse succulent grasses, which 

 afford ample pasturage for large herds of cattle ; these 

 thrive wonderfully, and give milk copiously to their 

 owners. When the valley is flooded, the cattle are com- 

 pelled to leave it and go to the higher lands, where they 

 fall off in condition ; their return is a time of joy. 



It is impossible to say whether this valley, which 



