49© LIVINGSTONE'S PACKAGES. 



date 1855. This was the only instance in which I in- 

 dulged in this piece of vanity. The garden stands in 

 front, and were there no hippopotami, I have no doubt 

 but this will be the parent of all the gardens, which may 

 yet be in this new country. We then went up to Kalai 

 again. 



On passing up we had a view of the hut on the island, 

 where my goods had lain so long in safety. It was under 

 a group of palm-trees, and Sekeletu informed me that, so 

 fully persuaded were most of the Makololo of the presence 

 of dangerous charms in the packages, that, had I not 

 returned to tell them the contrary, they never would 

 have been touched. Some of the diviners had been so 

 positive in their decisions on the point, that the men 

 who lifted a bag thought they felt a live kid in it. The 

 diviners always quote their predictions when they happen 

 to tally with the event. They declared that the whole 

 party which went to L,oanda had perished ; and as I 

 always quoted the instances in which they failed, many 

 of them refused to throw the " bola " (instruments of 

 divination) when I was near. This was a noted instance 

 of failure. It would have afforded me equal if not greater 

 pleasure to have exposed the failure, if such it had been, 

 of the European diviner whose paper lay a whole year on 

 this island, but I was obliged to confess that he had been 

 successful with his " bola," and could only comfort my- 

 self with the idea that, though Sir Roderick Murchison's 

 discourse had lain so long within sight and sound of the 

 magnificent falls, I had been " cut out " by no one in their 

 discovery. 



I saw the falls at low water, and the columns of vapour, 

 when five or six miles distant. When the river is full, 

 or in flood, the columns, it is said, can be seen ten miles 

 off, and the sound is quite distinct somewhat beyond 

 Kalai, or about an equal distance. No one can then go 

 to the island in the middle. The next visitor must bear 

 these points in mind in comparing his description with 

 mine. 



We here got information of a foray, which had been 

 made by a Makololo man in the direction we were going. 

 This instance of marauding was so much in accordance 

 with the system which has been pursued in this country, 

 that I did not wonder at it. But the man had used 

 Sekeletu' s name as having sent him, and, the proof being 



