a hive of
bees, though sometimes there was but little honey in it.

On the 4th of August the expedition reached Moachemba, the first of the
Batoka villages, which owe allegiance to Sekeletu. From thence, beyond
a beautiful valley, the columns of vapour rising from the Victoria
Falls, upwards of twenty miles away, could clearly be distinguished.

The Makololo here received intelligence of their families, and news of
the sad termination of the attempt to plant a mission at Linyanti, under
the Reverend H. Helmore. He and several white men had died, and the
remainder had only a few weeks before returned, to Kuruman.

At the village opposite Kalai the Malokolo head man, Mashotlane, paid
the travellers a visit. He entered the hut where they were seated, a
little boy carrying a three-legged stool. In a dignified way the chief
took his seat, presenting some boiled hippopotamus meat. Having then
taken a piece himself, he handed the rest to his followers. He had
lately been attacking the Batoka, and when the doctor represented to him
the wrongfulness of the act, he defended himself by declaring that they
had killed some of his companions. Here also they found Pitsane, who
had been sent by Sekeletu to purchase horses from a band of Griquas.

As the new-comers were naturally anxious to see the magnificent falls,
they embarked in some canoes belonging to Tuba Mokoro ("a smasher of
canoes"), who alone, they were assured, possessed the medicine which
would prevent shipwreck in the rapids. Tuba conducted them at a rapid
rate down the river. It required considerable confidence in his skill
not to feel somewhat uneasy as they navigated these roaring waters.
They were advised not to speak, lest their talking might diminish the
virtue of the medicine; few indeed would have thought of disobeying the
orders of the canoe-smasher. One man stood at the head of the canoe,
looking out for rocks and telling the steersman the course to take.
Often it seemed as if they would be dashed to pieces against the dark
rocks jutting out from the water, then in a moment the ready pole turned
the canoe aside, and they quickly glided past the danger. As they went
swiftly driving down, a black rock, with the foam flowing over it, rose
before them; the pole slipped, the canoe struck and in a moment was half
full of water. Tuba, however, speedily recovering himself, shoved off,
and they reached a shallow place, where the water was bailed out. He