Chap. XXIII. 
VALLEY OF THE LOEMBWE. 
465 
straight Kne towards the place. Sometimes they make mistakes, 
and are obliged to return to the water they had left. 
Very large tracts of country are denuded of old grass during 
the winter, by means of fire, in order to attract the game to that 
which there springs up unmixed with the older crop. This new 
herbage has a renovating tendency, for as long as they feed on 
the dry grass of the former season they continue in good condi¬ 
tion ; but no sooner are they able to indulge their appetites on the 
fresh herbage, than even the marrow in then' bones becomes dis¬ 
solved, and a red soft uneatable mass is left beliind. After this, 
commences the work of regaining their former plumpness. 
May 30^A.—We left Bango, and proceeded to the river 
Loembwe, which flows to the N.N.E., and abounds in hippo¬ 
potami. It is about sixty yards wide and four feet deep, but 
usually contains much less water than this, for there are fishing- 
weirs placed right across it. Like all the African rivers in tliis 
quarter, it has morasses on each bank, yet the vaUey in wliich it 
winds, when seen from the high lands above, is extremely beau¬ 
tiful. This valley is about the fourth of a mile wide, and it was 
easy to fancy the similarity of many spots on it to the goodly 
manors in our own country, and feel assm^ed that there was still 
ample territory left for an indefinite increase of the world’s popula¬ 
tion. The villages are widely apart, and difficult of access, from 
the paths being so covered with tall grass, that even an ox can 
scarcely follow the track. The grass cuts the feet of the men; yet 
we met a woman with a little child, and a girl, wending their way 
home with loads of manioc. The sight of a white man always 
infuses a tremor into their dark bosoms, and m every case of the 
kind, they appeared immensely relieved when I had fairly passed, 
without having sprung upon them. In the villages, the dogs run 
away with their tails between their legs, as if they had seen a 
lion. The women peer from behind the walls till he comes near 
them, and then hastily dash into the house. When a little cliild, 
unconscious of danger, meets you in the street, he sets up a scream 
at the apparition, and conveys the impression that he is not far 
from going into fits. Among the Bechuanas, I have been obliged 
to reprove the women for making a hobgobhn of the white man, 
and telling their children that they would send for him to bite 
them. 
