574 
THE ZAMBESI—ISLAND OF MENYE. Chap. XXVIII. 
brownish red. In the great valley, the Leeambye never becomes 
of this colour. The adjacent country, so far north as is known, is 
all level, and the soil, being generally covered with dense herbage, 
is not abraded; but on the eastern ridge the case is different; 
the grass is short, and, the elevation being great, the soil is washed 
down by the streams, and hence the discoloration which we now 
view. The same thing was observed on the western ridge. We 
never saw discoloration till we reached the Quango; that ob¬ 
tained its matter from the western slope of the western ridge, 
just as tliis part of the Zambesi receives its soil from the eastern 
slope of the eastern ridge. It carried a considerable quantity of 
wreck of reeds, sticks, and trees. We struck upon the river 
about eight miles east of the confluence with the Kafue, and 
thereby missed a sight of that interesting point. The cloudmess 
of the weather was such, that but few observations could be made 
for determining our position, so, pursuing our course, we went 
down the left bank, and came opposite the island of Menye mak- 
aba. The Zambesi contains numerous islands; this was about a 
mile and a half or two miles long, and upwards of a quarter of 
a mile broad. Besides human population, it has a herd of buffa¬ 
loes that never leave it. In the distance they seemed to be 
upwards of sixty. The human and brute inhabitants understand 
each other; for when the former thinly they ought to avenge the 
Kberties committed on their gardens, the leaders of the latter 
come out boldly to give battle. They told us that the only time 
m which they can tlnn them, is when the river is full and part of 
the island flooded. They then attack them from their canoes. 
The comparatively small space to which they have confined 
themselves, shows how luxuriant the vegetation of this region is; 
for were they in want of more pasture, as buffaloes can swim well 
and the distance from this bank to the island is not much more 
than 200 yards, they might easily remove hither. The opposite 
bank is much more distant. 
Eanges of hills appear now to run parallel with the Zambesi, 
and are about fifteen miles apart. Those on the north approach 
nearest to the river. The inhabitants on that side are the 
Batonga, those on the south bank are the Banyai. The hills 
abound ui buffaloes, and elephants are numerous, and many are 
killed by the people on both banks. They erect stages on 
