BETWEEN ANGOLA AND THE ZAMBESI. 
511 
I saw abundance of fisli darting hither and thither 
through the watery mass, many of them being at least 
a couple of feet in length. Flocks of geese fled at my 
approach, astonished, doubtless, at so unseemly an 
interruption as the visit of such a monster to regions 
hitherto sacred. Thousands of birds chirped and 
fluttered among the reeds and canes which lined the 
banks ; the weight of a dozen of them producing scarce 
an impression on the gigantic grass-stems. Occasionally 
a brilliant kingfisher would be seen hovering motionless 
in the air, until at a given moment it would descend 
HUT BUILT IN AN HOUR. 
from its lofty observatory like an arrow from a bow, 
and carry off its glittering prey from the surface of the 
water. The birds were not the sole inhabitants of the 
clustering rushes on the banks. A sudden commotion 
amid the green stems would attract my attention, and a 
rapid glance would discover a crocodile just disappear¬ 
ing beneath the waters. Or the splash of a heavy body 
in the stream would betray the presence of an otter, 
either alarmed at our approach or, like the kingfisher, 
intent upon his daily meal. The whole place was 
instinct with life, and death, as usual, was following 
quickly in its train. The river, whose general direction 
