cataracts in the world. All the information we had been able to obtain
from our Portuguese friends amounted to this, that some three or four
detached rocks jutted out of the river in Kebrabasa, which, though
dangerous to the cumbersome native canoes, could be easily passed by a
steamer, and that if one or two of these obstructions were blasted away
with gunpowder, no difficulty would hereafter be experienced. After we
had painfully explored seven or eight miles of the rapid, we returned to
the vessel satisfied that much greater labour was requisite for the mere
examination of the cataracts than our friends supposed necessary to
remove them; we therefore went down the river for fresh supplies, and
made preparation for a more serious survey of this region.

The steamer having returned from the bar, we set out on the 22nd of
November to examine the rapids of Kebrabasa. We reached the foot of the
hills again, late in the afternoon of the 24th, and anchored in the
stream. Canoe-men never sleep on the river, but always spend the night
on shore. The natives on the right bank, in the country called Shidima,
who are Banyai, and even at this short distance from Tette, independent,
and accustomed to lord it over Portuguese traders, wondered what could be
our object in remaining afloat, and were naturally suspicious at our
departing from the universal custom.

They hailed us from the bank in the evening with "Why don't you come and
sleep onshore like other people?"

The answer they received from our Makololo, who now felt as independent
as the Banyai, was, "We are held to the bottom with iron; you may see we
are not like your Bazungu."

This hint, a little amplified, saved us from the usual exactions. It is