one of the two nights Captain Gardner was with us, opposite the
lakelet Chidia, which is connected with the river in flood time, and is
nearly surrounded by hills some 500 or 600 feet high, dotted over with
trees. A few small groups of huts stood on the hill-sides, with gardens
off which the usual native produce had been reaped. The people did not
seem much alarmed by the presence of the large party which had drawn up
on the sandbanks below their dwellings. There is abundance of large
ebony in the neighbourhood. The pretty little antelope (_Cephalophus
caeruleus_), about the size of a hare, seemed to abound, as many of their
skins were offered for sale. Neat figured date-leaf mats of various
colours are woven here, the different dyes being obtained from the barks
of trees. Cattle could not live on the banks of the Rovuma on account of
the tsetse, which are found from near the mouth, up as far as we could
take the boats. The navigation did not improve as we ascended; snags,
brought down by the floods, were common, and left in the channel on the
sudden subsidence of the water. In many places, where the river divided
into two or three channels, there was not water enough in any of them for
a boat drawing three feet, so we had to drag ours over the shoals; but we
saw the river at its very lowest, and it may be years before it is so
dried up again.

The valley of the Rovuma, bounded on each side by a range of highlands,
is from two to four miles in width, and comes in a pretty straight course
from the W.S.W.; but the channel of the river is winding, and now at its
lowest zigzagged so perversely, that frequently the boats had to pass
over three miles to make one in a straight line. With a full stream it
must of course be much easier work. Few natives were seen during the
first week. Their villages are concealed in the thick jungle on the hill-
sides, for protection from marauding slave-parties. Not much of interest
was observed on this part of the silent and shallow river. Though
feeling convinced that it was unfit for navigation, except for eight
months of the year, we pushed on, resolved to see if, further inland, the
accounts we had received from different naval officers of its great
capabilities would prove correct; or if, by communication with Lake
Nyassa, even the upper part could be turned to account. Our exploration
showed us that the greatest precaution is required in those who visit new
countries.

Th