602 
BOROMA’S VILLAGE. 
Chap. XXIX. 
often cleared up after that, admitting of our moving on a few 
miles. A continuous rain of several hours then set in. The 
wind up to this point was always from the east, but both rain and 
wind now came so generally from the west, or opposite dfrection 
to what we had been accustomed to in the interior, that we were 
obliged to make our encampment face the east, in order to have 
them in our backs. The country adjacent to the river abounds 
in large trees; but the population is so numerous, that those left 
being all green, it is difficult to get dry firewood. On coming to 
some places, too, we were warned by the villagers not to cut the 
trees growing in certain spots, as they contained the graves of 
their ancestors. There are many tamarind-trees, and another 
very similar, which yields a fruit as large as a small walnut, of 
which the elephants are very fond. It is called Motondo, and the 
Portuguese extol its timber as excellent for building boats, as it 
does not soon rot in water. 
On the 6th we came to the village of Boroma, which is situated 
among a number of others, each surrounded by extensive patches 
of cultivation. On the opposite side of the river we have a great 
cluster of conical hills called Chorichori. Boroma did not make 
his appearance, but sent a substitute who acted civilly. I sent 
Sekwebu in the morning to state that we intended to move on; 
liis mother replied that, as she had expected that we should re¬ 
main, no food was ready, but she sent a basket of corn and a fowl. 
As an excuse why Boroma did not present himself, she said that 
he was seized that morning by the Barimo, which probably meant 
that liis lordsliip was drunk. 
We marched along the river to a point opposite the lull Pinkwe 
(lat. 15° 39' 11" S., long. 31° 48' E.), but the late abundant rains 
now flooded the Zambesi again, and great quantities of wreck 
appeared upon the stream. It is probable that frequent freshets, 
caused by the rains on tins side of the ridge, have prevented 
the Portuguese near the coast, from recognising the one peculiar 
flood of inundation observed in the interior, and caused the belief 
that it is flooded soon after the commencement of the rains. The 
course of the Nile being in the opposite direction to this, it does 
not receive these subsidiary waters, and hence its inundation is 
recognised all the way along its course. If the Leeambye were 
prolonged southwards into the Cape Colony, its flood would be 
