feet horizontally, in order to place their nests at the ends, and are now
chasing on restless wing the myriads of tropical insects. The broad
river has many low islands, on which are seen various kinds of waterfowl,
such as geese, spoonbills, herons, and flamingoes. Repulsive crocodiles,
as with open jaws they sleep and bask in the sun on the low banks, soon
catch the sound of the revolving paddles and glide quietly into the
stream. The hippopotamus, having selected some still reach of the river
to spend the day, rises out of the bottom, where he has been enjoying his
morning bath after the labours of the night on shore, blows a puff of
spray from his nostrils, shakes the water out of his ears, puts his
enormous snout up straight and yawns, sounding a loud alarm to the rest
of the herd, with notes as of a monster bassoon.

As we approach Mazaro the scenery improves. We see the well-wooded
Shupanga ridge stretching to the left, and in front blue hills rise dimly
far in the distance. There is no trade whatever on the Zambesi below
Mazaro. All the merchandise of Senna and Tette is brought to that point
in large canoes, and thence carried six miles across the country on men's
heads to be reshipped on a small stream that flows into the Kwakwa, or
Quillimane river, which is entirely distinct from the Zambesi. Only on
rare occasions and during the highest floods can canoes pass from the
Zambesi to the Quillimane river through the narrow natural canal _Mutu_.
The natives of Maruru, or the country around Mazaro, the word Mazaro
meaning the "mouth of the creek" Mutu, have a bad name among the
Portuguese; they are said to be expert thieves, and the merchants
sometimes suffer from their adroitness while the goods are in transit
from one river to the other. In general they are trained canoe-men, and
man many of the canoes that ply thence to Senna and Tette; their pay is
small, and, not trusting the traders, they must always have it before
they start. Africans being prone to assign plausible reasons for their