302 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
we found the vegetation luxuriant and quite tropical in 
its character ; but up-stream, so far as I went, this feature 
seemed to be less marked. Upon entering the valley a 
stranger can hardly fail to be struck by the number of 
strange trees and bushes, nearly all of them producing 
fruit that may either be eaten or usee 1 for some domestic 
purpose. A notable exception to the general rule is 
afforded by the moshungulu, a tree of which the fruit, 
about two feet lone; and several inches thick, somethin«■ 
like a sausage, is poisonous. The difference between the 
vegetation of the Zambesi valley, with its adjacent 
plateau, and that of the more southern districts, is 
manifest from the sinofe circumstance, that throughout 
the entire course of the river the natives can subsist all 
the year round on the produce of their own trees, as 
each month brings fruits or its edible seeds to maturity. 
Animal life is everywhere abundant ; birds, fishes, 
snakes, insects, and especially butterflies, being too 
numerous to be reckoned. The human race itself may 
be said to be in a higher state of development. 
Nearly opposite Impalera was a little creek overhung 
by a fine moshungulu. Understanding that this was 
the usual landing-place for natives coming across the 
river, I gave orders for a little grass-hut to be put up 
there for my use. The Chobe was here between 200 
and 300 yards across, and so deep that its water was of 
quite a dark blue colour. As I strolled along beside it 
I saw considerable numbers of a small water-lily floating 
on its surface ; the species seemed to produce a very 
limited quantity of petals. The masses of reeds were 
beyond a question the lurking-places of many crocodiles. 
Blockley’s people had been at the place several times 
before, and at their suggestion I fired off several shots 
to give the residents of Impalera notice of my arrival. 
Before long two men put off in a canoe and landed on 
our shore. The canoe was only the stem of a tree 
hollowed out with an axe; it was about ten feet long, 
fourteen inches wide, and ten inches deep. The men 
were tall and strongly built, and wore the primitive 
vesture of the Bantu family in the most graceful way I 
