A DANGEROUS HIPPOPOTAMUS. 463 



disturbance of rocks to be seen in the central country > 

 except the falls of Gonye. Nor is there any evidence* 

 or tradition of hurricanes. 



I left Naliele on the 13th of August, and when proceed- 

 ing along the shore at mid-day, a hippopotamus struck 

 the canoe with her forehead, lifting one half of it quite out 

 of the water, so as nearly to overturn it. The force of 

 the butt she gave, tilted Mashauana out into the river r 

 the rest of us sprang to the shore, which was only about 

 ten yards off. Glancing back, I saw her come to the 

 surface a short way off, and look to the canoe, as if to see 

 if she had done much mischief. It was a female, whose 

 young one had been speared the day before. No damage 

 was done, except wetting person and goods. This is so 

 unusual an occurrence, when the precaution is taken 

 to coast along the shore, that my men exclaimed, " Is 

 the beast mad ? " There were eight of us in the canoe 

 at the time, and the shake it received shows the immense 

 power of this animal in the water. 



On reaching Gonye, Mokwala, the head-man, having 

 presented me with a tusk, I gave it to Pitsane, as he was 

 eagerly collecting ivory for the Loanda market. The rocks 

 of Gonye are reddish grey sandstone, nearly horizontal,, 

 and perforated by madrepores, the holes showing the 

 course of the insect in different directions. The rock 

 itself has bee a. impregnated with iron, and that hardened,, 

 forms a glaze on the surface — an appearance common 

 to many of the rocks of this country. 



August 22nd. — This is the end of winter. The trees 

 which line the banks begin to bud and blossom ; and 

 there is some show of the influence of the new sap, which 

 will soon end in buds that push off the old foliage by 

 assuming a very bright orange colour. This orange is 

 so bright that I mistook it for masses of yellow blossom. 

 There is every variety of shade in the leaves, yellow,, 

 purple, copper, liver-colour, and even inky black. 



Having got the loan of other canoes from Mpololo, and 

 three oxen as provision for the way, which made the 

 number we had been presented with in the Barotse valley 

 amount to thirteen, we proceeded down the river towards 

 Sesheke, and were as much struck as formerly with the 

 noble river. The whole scenery is lovely, though the 

 atmosphere is murky in consequence of the continuance 

 of the smoky tinge of winter. 



