over which we had been passing was in itself the most interesting that I had yet seen. We had crossed forty-two rapids, and had now come to the most southerly of the Barotse cataracts, here about 1000 feet wide. I was removed on the following morning to a more roomy hut that had been prepared for Queen Moquai, and in which she had waited my arrival; imagining, however, that I had turned back, she had proceeded on her way, but when she heard where I was, she sent her husband Manengo back from her next landing-place to inquire after me.
The last rapids that I crossed were the most dangerous of all in the Marutse country; one of them was known as Manekango, the other was Muniruola. They were formed by ridges of rocks extending right across the river, with an average height of not much over two feet and a half, but the openings were so few and narrow that the water dashed through with the fiercest violence. I had to submit to be laid upon the reef while the men dragged the boat through the rifts at the most imminent peril.
The sickness, which had a little abated, returned again towards evening, and I had considerable difficulty in drawing my breath. In the morning I was so far relieved that I was able to take a few spoonfuls of maizena.
In the course of that day Inkambella, the most important man in the country next to Sepopo, passed down the river.
To hold out any longer was simply impossible. I grew worse and worse. I felt that I had no alternative than to yield to necessity, and calling the boatmen together, I announced my intention
