1883.] 
Among the Barotse. 
67 
by day, or lay by night, in perfect inactivity. At last the rains 
ceased a bit, and I went out to seek a hut. I got one from 
a headman, and at once entered it. It was dry and comfortable \ 
so I remained there ten days. The damp house, and about a 
month's feeding on native porridge (without milk), morning, noon, 
and night, brought on an attack of dysentery ; yet I cannot but 
recognise the hand of the Lord in preserving my life in such 
trying circumstances. 
Towards the end of February, when the Zambesi overflows its 
banks for miles on either side, the king and almost all the people 
of the place removed to their summer town, Amafura. Liwanika 
invited me into his large boat (made of several canoes), and 
perhaps two thousand canoes accompanied us. At Amafura, 
I had much discomfort and losses by robbing. The king was 
taken ill, and then a lot of goods arrived from Mr. Westbeech. 
He asked me to receive them, and my hut was packed for days. 
I had nine men beside my own two to provide for and look 
after for about twenty days ; I also had a serious relapse of fever. 
The place was surrounded with marsh. 
To give a better idea of the Zambesi and its periodical overflow 
I here insert some extracts from Livingstone's narrative, written 
in 1853, when he first reached the Zambesi. The whole district 
was then under the rule of Sekeletu, chief of the Makololo. 
Livingstone's description of the barotse valley. 
''The river is indeed a magnificent one, often more than 
a mile broad, and adorned with many islands of from three to 
five miles in length. Both islands and banks are covered with 
forest, and most of the trees on the brink of the water send down 
roots from their branches like the banian or Ficus Indica. The 
islands at a little distance seem great rounded masses of sylvan 
vegetation reclining on the bosom of the glorious stream. The 
country adjacent to the river is rocky and undulating, abounding 
in elephants and all the other large game, except leches and 
nakongs. The soil is of a reddish colour and very fertile, as is 
attested by the great quantity of grain raised annually by the 
Banyeti.* A great many villages of this poor and very industrious 
* The Banyeti inhabit the south-eastern portion of the Barotse Valley, and 
are found around the Gonye Falls. 
