518 
VICTOEIA FALLS. 
Chap. XXYI. 
elder Sekote, garnisked with numbers of human skulls mounted 
on poles: a large heap of the crania of hippopotami, the tusks 
untouched except by time, stood on one side. At a short distance, 
under some trees, we saw the grave of Sekote, ornamented with 
seventy large elephants’ tusks, planted round it with the points 
turned inwards, and there were tlinty more placed over the resting- 
places of his relatives. These were all decaying from the effects 
of the sun and weather; but a few, which had enjoyed the shade, 
were in a pretty good condition. I felt inclined to take a speci¬ 
men of the tusks of the hippopotami, as they were the largest I 
had ever seen; but feared that the people would look upon me as 
a “ resurrectionist ” if I did, and regard any unfavourable event 
wliich might afterwards occm% as a punishment for the sacrilege. 
The Batoka believe that Sekote had a pot of medicine buried here, 
wliich, when opened, would cause, an epidemic in the country. 
These tyrants acted much on the fears of their people. 
As tills was the point from which we intended to strike off to 
the north-east, I resolved on the following day to visit the falls of 
Victoria, called by the natives Mosioatunya, or more anciently 
Shongwe. Of these we had often heard since we came into the 
country: indeed one of the questions asked by Sebituane was, 
“ Have you smoke that sounds in your country ? ” They did 
not go near enough to examine them, but, viewing them with 
awe at a distance, said, in reference to the vapom: and noise, 
Mosi oa tunya ” (smoke does sound there). It was pre¬ 
viously called Shongwe, the meaning of which I could not 
ascertain. The word for a ‘‘ pot ” resembles this, and it may mean 
a seetliing caldron; but I am not certain of it. Being persuaded 
that Mr. Oswell and myself were the very first Europeans who 
ever visited the Zambesi in The centre of the country, and that 
this is the connecting link between the known and unknown 
portions of that river, I decided to use the same liberty as the 
Makololo did, and gave the only English name I have affixed to 
any part of the country. No better proof of previous ignorance 
of this river could be desired, than that an untravelled gentleman, 
who had spent a great part of his life in the study of the geo¬ 
graphy of Africa, and knew everything written on the subject 
from the time of Ptolemy downwards, actually asserted in the 
‘Athenaeum,’ while I was coming up the Bed Sea, that tliis 
