DEEP CHANNEL OF RIVER. c h a p . I.
river bottom appears to be a succession of immense submerged
sandbanks, having, when the stream is low, from
one to four feet of water on them. The main channel runs
for some distance between the sandbank and the river’s
bank, with a depth in the dry season varying from five to
fifteen feet, and a current of nearly two knots an hour. I t
then turns and flows along the lower edge of the sandbank
in a diagonal direction across the river, and continues this
process, winding from bank to bank repeatedly during the
day’s sail, making expert navigators on the ocean feel helplessly
at sea on the river. On these crossings the channel
is shallowest. I t is in general pretty clearly defined. In
calm weather there is a peculiar boiling up of its water
from some action below. With a light breeze the Qwete
assumes a characteristic ripple, and when the wind freshens
and blows up the river, as it usually does from May to
November, the waves on it are larger than those of other
parts of the river, and a line of small breakers marks the
edge of the shoal-bank above.
Finding the “ Pearl’s ” draught too great for that part
of the river near the island of Simbo, where the branch
called the Doto is given off to the Kongone on the right
bank, and another named Chinde departs to the secret
canal already mentioned on the left, the goods belonging
to the expedition were taken out of her, and placed on
one of the grassy islands about forty miles from the bar.
The “ Pearl * then left us, and we had to part with our good
friends Duncan and Skead; the former for Ceylon, the
latter to return to his duties as Government Surveyor at
the Cape.
Of those who eventually did the work of the expedition the
majority took a sober common-sense view of the enterprise
T EXPEDITION island.
Chap.. L
E „ h i* we were engaged- Some remain«! on
Island from the 18th Jnne until the 13th August, wh.le
L c h and pinnace were c a s in g the good, up to hu=
• and Senna. The country was in a- esJt-antlen aotf WwQaTr,. oOUuTr uggage
was in danger, and several ef our
disease from inactivity in the malaria of the 'Delta H
some had their first introduction to African life, and Africa
fever Those alone were safe who were actively employe
with the vessels, and of course, remembermg the perilous
' position of their fellows, they strained every nerve to finish
the work and take them away. . This was the time, too, for
the feeble-minded to make a demand for their Sundays of
rest and full meal-hours, which even our crew of twe ve
Kroomen, though tampered with, had more sense and good-
feeling than to endorse. I t is a pity that some people cannot
¡ see that the true and honest discharge of the common duties
of every-day life is Divine Service.
The weather was delightful, with only an occasional shower
‘ or cold foggy morning. Those who remained on the island
made the most of their time, taking meteorological and
magnetical observations, and botanizing, so far as the dried
• vegetation would allow. No one seemed to place much
reliance on the “ official report” of two naval commanders,
who now, after about a fortnight’s experience in the Zambesi,
solemnly declared it to be “ more like an inland-sea than a
river, with a climate like that of Italy, and infinitely more
healthy than any river on the West Coast:” but, by the
leader’s advice, each began to examine and to record his
1 observations for himself, and did not take even his chiefs
previous experience as infallible.
Large columns of smoke rose daily from different points
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