Chap. XV. 
THE LEEBA. 
265 
Now, I do not say tliat tins part of the river presents a very 
inviting prospect for extemporaneous European enterprise ; but 
when we have a pathway which requires only the formation of 
portages to make it equal to our canals for hundreds of miles, 
where the philosophers supposed there was nought but an exten¬ 
sive sandy desert, we must confess that the future partakes at 
least of the elements of hope. My deliberate conviction was 
and is, that the part of the country indicated, is as capable of 
supporting millions of inhabitants as it is of its thousands. The 
grass of the Barotse valley, for instance, is such a densely 
matted mass that, when “ laid,” the stalks bear each other up, so 
that one feels as if walking on the sheaves of a hay-stack, and 
the leches nestle under it to bring forth their young. The soil 
wliich produces tliis, if placed under the plough, instead of being 
mere pasturage, would yield grain sufficient to feed vast mul¬ 
titudes. 
We now began to ascend the Leeba. The water is black in 
coloiu' as compared with the main stream, wliich here assumes 
the name of Kabompo. The Leeba flows placidly, and, unlike the 
parent river, receives numbers of little rivulets from both sides. 
It winds slowly tlirough the most charming meadows, each of 
wliich has either a soft sedgy centre, large pond, or trickling rill, 
down the middle. The trees are now covered with a profusion of 
the freshest foliage, and seem planted in groups of such pleasant, 
gTaceful outline, that art could give no additional charm. The 
grass, which had been burned ofl* and was gTowing again after 
the rains, was short and green; and all the scenery so like that 
of a carefully-tended gentleman’s park, that one is scarcely re¬ 
minded that the surrounding region is in the hands of simple 
natoe alone. I suspect that the level meadows are inundated 
annually, for the spots on which the trees stand are elevated 
three or four feet above them, and these elevations, being of dif¬ 
ferent shapes, give the strange variety of outline of the park-like 
woods. Numbers of a fresh-water shell are scattered all over 
these valleys. The elevations, as I have observed elsewhere, are 
of a soft sandy soil, and the meadows of black rich alluvial loam. 
There are many beautiful flowers, and many bees to sip their 
nectar. We found plenty of honey in the woods, and saw the 
