Chap. XII. 
BAKOTSE EEAS. 
217 
Santurii, at whose ancient granary we are staying, was a great 
hunter, and very fond of taming wild animals. His people, 
aware of his taste, brought to him every young antelope they 
could catch, and, among other things, two young hippopotami. 
These animals gambolled in the river by day, but never failed to 
remember to come up to ISTaliele for their suppers of milk and 
meal. They were the wonder of the country till a stranger, 
happening to come to visit Santuru, saw them reclining in the 
sun, and speared one of them on the supposition that it was 
wild. The same unlucky accident happened to one of the cats 
I had brought to Sekeletu. A stranger, seeing an animal he 
had never viewed before, killed it, and brought the trophy to 
the chief, thinldng that he had made a very remarkable dis¬ 
covery ; we thereby lost the breed of cats, of which, from the 
swarms of mice, we stood in great need. 
On making inquiries to ascertain whether Santuru, the Mo- 
loiana, had ever been visited by white men, I could find no 
vestige of any such visit there is no evidence of any of San- 
turu’s people having ever seen a white man before the arrival of 
Mr. Oswell and myself in 1851. The people have, it is true, no 
written records; but any remarkable event here is commemo¬ 
rated in names, as was observed by Park to be the case in the 
* The Barotse call themselves the Baloiana, or little Ealoi, as if they 
had been an offset from Loi, or Liii, as it is often spelt. As Liii had been 
visited by Portuguese, but its position not well ascertained, my inquiries re¬ 
ferred to the identity of Naliele with Lni. On asking the headman of the 
Mambari party, named Porto, whether he had ever heard of Kaliele being 
visited previously, he replied in the negative, and stated that he “ had him¬ 
self attempted to come from Bihe three times, but had always been prevented 
by the tribe called Ganguellas.” He nearly succeeded in 1852, but was 
driven back. He now (in 1853) attempted to go eastward from Kaliele, 
but came back to the Barotse on being unable to go beyond Kainko’s village, 
which is situated on the Bashukulompo river, and eight days distant. The 
whole party was anxious to secure a reward believed to be promised by the 
Portuguese Government. Their want of success confirmed my impression 
that I ought to go westwards. Porto kindly offered to aid me, if I would go 
with him to Bihe ; but when I declined, he preceded me to Loanda, and was 
publishing his Journal when I arrived at that city. Ben Habib told me that 
Porto had sent letters to Mosambique by the Arab, Ben Chombo, whom I 
knew ; and he has since asserted, in Portugal, that he himself went to Mosam¬ 
bique as well as his letters ! 
