little huts made in the trees, indicating the
places where some of the inhabitants have slept when benighted in the
fields. As numbers of my men frequently left the line of march in order
to take out the korwes from their nests, or follow the honey-guides,
they excited the astonishment of our guides, who were constantly
warning them of the danger they thereby incurred from lions. I was often
considerably ahead of the main body of my men on this account, and was
obliged to stop every hour or two; but, the sun being excessively hot
by day, I was glad of the excuse for resting. We could make no such
prodigious strides as officers in the Arctic regions are able to do. Ten
or twelve miles a day were a good march for both the men and myself; and
it was not the length of the marches, but continuing day after day to
perform the same distance, that was so fatiguing. It was in this case
much longer than appears on the map, because we kept out of the way of
villages. I drank less than the natives when riding, but all my clothing
was now constantly damp from the moisture which was imbibed in large
quantities at every pond. One does not stay on these occasions to
prepare water with alum or any thing else, but drinks any amount without
fear. I never felt the atmosphere so steamy as on the low-lying lands
of the Zambesi, and yet it was becoming cooler than it was on the
highlands.

We crossed the rivulets Kapopo and Ue, now running, but usually dry.
There are great numbers of wild grape-vines growing in this quarter;
indeed, they abound every where along the banks of the Zambesi. In
the Batoka country there is a variety which yields a black grape of
considerable sweetness. The leaves are very large and harsh, as if
capable of withstanding the rays of this hot sun; but the most common
kinds--one with a round leaf and a greenish grape, and another with a
leaf closely resembling that of the cultivated varieties, and with dark
or purple fruit--have large seeds, which are strongly astringent, and
render it a disagreeable fruit. The natives eat all the varieties; and
I tasted vinegar made by a Portuguese from these grapes. Probably a
country which yields the wild vines so very abundantly might be a fit
one for the cultivated species. At this part of the journey so many of
the vines had run across the little footpath we followed that one had
to be constantly on the watch to avoid being tripped. The ground was
covered with rounded shingle, w