448 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
A rough noise has followed us down stream. We 
look upwards and see that the water is black with a 
fleet of canoes, from which comes the merry beating of 
many drums. It is the Portuguese flotilla, carrying 
the triumphant army homeward. Borne along at the 
rate of four knots an hour they rapidly approach, and 
louder and louder becomes the heavy thud of many 
paddles and the babbling of a thousand tongues. 
The larger boats soon sweep past, being well manned 
by Mazara boatmen (noted as expert watermen), with 
red caps brilliant on their black heads. They bend 
their bodies to the stroke as they plunge their paddles 
deftly in the stream. At the stern of some of the boats 
we see the luxury-loving young officer, reclining on a 
soft mattress enjoying a siesta, or smoking the soothing 
cigarette. A happy crowd truly to pass through a 
scene so gruesome! 
That Portuguese flotilla was a novel sight. The army 
was the queerest assemblage that could well be imagined. 
No particular rule or order existed about anything, for 
the only anxiety that was evident was the desire to 
hasten helter-skelter home. None of the canoes were 
large; few contained more than eight men, and some 
with only two men were no bigger than long bath tubs. 
The large keel-boats might have about fifteen or twenty 
on board, and were propelled by paddles, the men facing 
the bow. No oars were used. There was a ureat 
O 
abundance of drums, many of which were taken from 
the Mazinjiri. 
One of the keel-boats, we were informed, had the 
Governor of Quillimane on board, very ill with fever. 
A hail came from another as it passed. A Senlior Leal 
was on board, and he told us that there was still war 
lower down the river. 
Two days passed, and we were beginning to hope 
that the confluence of the river would be reached before 
long. 
Dysentery broke out among the crew. One man who 
went ashore disappeared altogether. 
Further down the stream the marshes were observed 
