522 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
At noon I took my leave, and returned to the 
encampment. I passed the rest of the day with a 
petty chief, the brother of the Sova, who informed me 
that he intended starting for the Zambesi by way of 
the Cuchibi and Cnando. I found him to be a very 
intelligent fellow, speaking Portuguese pretty fluently, 
he having picked up the language while serving as a 
soldier in Loanda, to which place he had been sent as a 
slave when the horrid traffic was in the ascendant. He 
was a great hunter, and had 
frequently scoured the banks 
of the Cuando as far as Lini- 
anti during his sporting ex¬ 
cursions. He assured me 
that the Cuando was com¬ 
pletely navigable, that it 
was without rapids, and oc¬ 
casionally spread over so 
wide a bed as to present but 
little depth. Its aquatic 
vegetation was, however, so 
abundant and powerful that 
it not unfrequently barred 
the passage of any boats, 
andmadenavigation a matter 
of considerable difficulty. He 
further asserted, and I had 
afterwards occasion to con¬ 
firm the correctness of the 
assertion, that the river 
Cuando bears that name as 
far as Linianti, and thence to the Zambe either Cuando 
or Linianti, but never Chobe or Tcliobe, as designated 
on the maps. 
The Ambuella race continue on the Cuando the same 
system of existence as they practise on the Cuchibi, and 
the little islands are always selected for the establish¬ 
ment of their villages. 
