464 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
brought me by Capoco, I had still twenty-seven loads 
without carriers for them, and was compelled to leave 
them behind under the charge of Barros, Quimbungo 
promising to send them after me to the Sambo, whither 
1 decided forthwith to bend my steps. 
I started at 10 a.m. in an easterly direction, and an 
hour afterwards crossed the river Canhungamua, 33 
yards in breadth and from 13 to 16 feet deep, which 
running southwards mingles its waters with those of 
the Cunene. A bridge of recent construction, formed of 
the trunks of trees, gave an easy passage to our party, 
but our carriers on reaching the left bank expressed their 
determination to go no farther that day. I was com¬ 
pelled to use the utmost energy to make them continue 
their march until three in the afternoon, at which hour 
we fixed our encampment in a thick forest of acacia- 
trees. The bad weather still pursued us, nor could I 
throw off the fever which weighed upon me, although it 
yielded somewhat to the irregular treatment I was 
enabled to apply. During the night an awful thunder¬ 
storm travelling from south-west to north-east passed 
over our heads, the vivid flashes of lightning being 
accompanied by torrents of rain. 
Breaking up our camp on the following morning at 
six, we pursued our journey, reaching the Cunene a 
couple of hours later. This we crossed by a bridge 
constructed, like all the bridges in this part of Africa, 
of unhewn trunks of trees. At this spot the river was 
found to be 22 yards wide and 6 feet deep, the stream 
running southwards. The banks are slightly undulated, 
covered with tall grasses but with little wood. A 
double row of trees, however, very similar in appear¬ 
ance to the stunted willows of Europe, was traceable by 
the eye for a considerable distance, in the shape of tor¬ 
tuous lines, between which the river flowed with a rapid 
current over a bed of fine white sand. I took a short 
rest, after making the necessary observations to deter¬ 
mine the altitude, and started again at noon, arriving at 
2 p.m. at the village of the native chief of the Dumbo in 
the Sambo territory. This chief is a vassal of the king 
