460 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
to the upper waters of the Zambesi, down the river 
as far as the Victoria Falls, then southwards through 
Khame’s territory and the Transvaal, into Natal, arriving 
at Durban early in 1879. The following extract will 
afford some idea of his early troubles, as well as of 
the nature of the country through which he passed. 
Capoco was chief of a district about 150 miles from 
the coast, and had treated Serpa Pinto in a very 
friendly way. 
It was on the morning of the 21st of February, 1878, 
that I took leave of Capoco, and with the fever still upon 
me wended my way towards the Sambo territory. Before 
I reached the Calae 1 received a note from the guide 
Barros informing me that during the night the carriers 
had all fled, leaving their loads in the village of the 
petty chief Quimbungo, the brother of the chief or native 
king Bilombo. 
I turned back and sought an interview with Capoco, 
to whom I related what had occurred. He advised me 
to go on to his uncle’s settlement and that he would 
remedy the mischief. I therefore again proceeded, and 
shortly after crossed the Calae, which runs N. and S. 
to the Cunene, it being at this spot 33 yards wide by 
3 feet 2 inches deep, with a violent current. It flows 
through vast plains, slightly undulated and clothed with 
gramineous plants, among which rises, here and there, a 
solitary dragon-tree. The soil is of animal formation, 
the whole of the ground being covered, or, more cor¬ 
rectly speaking, covering an infinite world of white ants. 
A bridge, roughly thrown together and composed of 
the trunks of trees, unites' the two banks of the river. 
Some 110 yards above the bridge the Calae receives 
an important affluent, the Cuguce, which contributes a 
volume of water as great as its own. I marched N.E. 
and at ten o’clock passed close to the village of the petty 
chief Chacaquimbamba, at the entrance of which there 
was a large assembly of people. I went by without 
their saying a word, but had not gone more than 50 
yards when I heard a great noise from the direction of 
the settlement. At the same moment Verissimo came 
