Chap. XIL 
EAPIDS AND FALLS, 
213 
excel in pottery and iron. I cannot find that they have ever 
been warlike. Indeed, the wars in the centre of the country, 
where no slave-trade existed, have seldom been about anything 
else but cattle. So well known is tliis, that several tribes refuse 
to keep cattle because they tempt their enemies to come and 
steal. Nevertheless they have no objection to eat them wdien 
offered, and their country admits of being w^ell stocked. I have 
heard of but one war having occurred from another cause. Three 
brothers, Barolongs, fought for the possession of a woman who 
was considered worth a battle, and the tribe has remained per¬ 
manently divided ever since. 
From the bend up to the north, called Katima-molelo (I 
quenched fire), the bed of the river is rocky, and the stream runs 
fast, forming a succession of rapids and cataracts, which prevent 
continuous navigation when the water is low. The rapids are 
not visible when the river is full, but the cataracts of Nambwe, 
Bombwe, and Kale must always be dangerous. The fall at each 
of these is between four and six feet. But the falls of Gonye 
present a much more serious obstacle. There we were obliged 
to take the canoes out of the water, and carry them more than a 
mile by land. The fall is about thirty feet. The main body of 
water, which comes over the ledge of rock when the river is low, 
is collected into a space seventy or eighty yards wide before it 
takes the leap, and, a mass of rock being tlnust forward against 
the roaring torrent, a loud sound is produced. Tradition reports 
the destruction in this place of two hippopotamus-hunters, who, 
over eager in the pursuit of a wounded animal, were, with their 
intended prey, drawn down into the frightful gulf. There is also 
a tradition of a man, evidently of superior mind, who left his 
OTO countrymen, the Barotse, and came down the river, took 
advantage of the falls, and led out a portion of the water there 
for migation. Such minds must have arisen from time to time 
in these regions, as well as in our own country, but, ignorant of 
the use of letters, they have left no memorial behind them. We 
dug out some of an inferior kind of potato {Sisinydne) from his 
garden, for when once planted it never dies out. This root is 
bitter and waxy, though it is cultivated. It was not in flower, so 
I cannot say whether it is a solanaceoiis plant or not. One 
never expects to find a grave nor a stone of remembrance set 
