ARRIVAL AT MORE MI- 
99 
Wo wore close to tho roods, and could listen to the strange 
sounds which aro ofton heard there. By day I had seen 
wator-snakes putting qp their heads and swimming about 
Thoro were great numbers of otters, ( Lutra iminguis, I'. 
Cuvier,) which havo made little spoors all over the plains 
in search of tho fishes, among the tall grass of these floodod 
prairies; curious birds, too, jerked and wriggled among 
these reedy masses, and wo heard human-like voices and 
unearthly sounds, with splash, guggle, jupp, as if raro inn 
wero going on in their uncouth haunts. After a damp, 
cold night, wo sot to, early in tho morning, at our work of 
exploring again, but left tho pontoon in order to lighten 
our labor. Tho ant-hills aro hero very high, somo thirty 
feet, and of a baso so broad that trees grow on them ; while 
tho lands, annually flooded, bear nothing but grass. From 
one of theso ant-hills wo discovered an inlet to tho Chobo; 
and, having gono back for tho pontoon, wo launched our- 
Bclves on a deep river, hero from eighty to one hundred 
yards wido. I gavo my companion strict injunctions to 
stick by tho pontoon in caso a hippopotamus should look 
at us; nor was this caution unnecessary, for ono camo up 
at our sido and made a desperate plungo off. Wo had 
passed over him. Tho wavo ho made caused tho pontoon 
to glido quickly away from him. 
Wo paddled on from mid-day till sunset. Thcro was 
nothing but a wall of reed on each bank, and wo saw every 
prospect of spending a supperlcss night in our float ; but, 
just as tho short twilight of theso parts was commencing, 
we perceived on tho north bank tho village of Moremi, ono 
of tho Makololo, whoso acquaintance I had mado on our 
foimor visit, and who was now located on tho island Ha- 
honta, (lat. 17° 58' S., long. 24° 6'E.) Tho villagers looked 
as we may supposo people do who sco a ghost, and in their 
figurativo way of spoaking said, “Ho has dropped among 
us from tho clouds, yot camo riding on the back of a hip- 
popotamus ! Wo Makololo thought no ono could cross the 
