564 THE ZAMBESI FLOODED. 



of the river we have a great cluster of conical hills called 

 Chorichori. Boroma did not make his appearance, but 

 sent a substitute who acted civilly. I sent Sekwebu in 

 the morning to state that we intended to move on ; his 

 mother replied that, as she had expected that we should 

 remain, no food was ready, but she sent a basket of corn 

 and a fowl. As an excuse why Boroma did not present 

 himself, she said that he was seized that morning by the 

 Barimo, which probably meant that his lordship was 

 drunk. 



We marched along the river to a point opposite the hill 

 Pinkwe (lat. 15 39' 11" S., long. 32 5' K.), but the late 

 abundant rains now flooded the Zambesi again, and great 

 quantities of wreck appeared upon the stream. It is 

 probable that frequent freshets, caused by the rains on 

 this side of the ridge, have prevented the Portuguese near 

 the coast from recognising the one peculiar flood of inun- 

 dation observed in the interior, and caused the belief 

 that it is flooded soon after the commencement of the 

 rains. The course of the Nile being in the opposite 

 direction to this, it does not receive these subsidiary 

 waters, and hence its inundation is recognised all the way 

 along its course. If the Leeambye were prolonged south- 

 wards into the Cape Colony, its flood would be identical 

 with that of the Nile. It would not be influenced by any 

 streams in the Kalahari, for there, as in a corresponding 

 part of the Nile, there would be no feeders. It is to be 

 remembered that the great ancient river which flowed to 

 the lake at Boochap took this course exactly, and probably 

 flowed thither until the fissure of the falls was made. 



This flood having filled the river, we found the numerous 

 rivulets which flow into it, filled also, and when going along 

 the Zambesi, we lost so much time in passing up each little 

 stream till we could find a ford about waist-deep, and 

 then returning to the bank, that I resolved to leave the 

 river altogether, and strike away to the S.K. We accord- 

 ingly struck off when opposite the hill Pinkwe, and came 

 into a hard Mopane country. In a hole of one of the 

 mopane-trees, I noticed that a squirrel (Sciurns cepapi) 

 had placed a great number of fresh leaves over a store 

 of seed. It is not against the cold of winter that they 

 thus lay up food, but it is a provision against the hot 

 season, when the trees have generally no seed. A great 

 many silicified trees are met with lying on the ground all 



