This fish-hawk generally kills more prey than it can devour.  It eats a portion of the back of the fish, and leaves the rest for the Barotse, who often had a race across the river when they saw an abandoned morsel lying on the opposite sand-banks.  The hawk is, however, not always so generous, for, as I myself was a witness on the Zouga, it sometimes plunders the purse of the pelican.  Soaring over head, and seeing this large, stupid bird fishing beneath, it watches till a fine fish is safe in the pelican’s pouch; then descending, not very quickly, but with considerable noise of wing, the pelican looks up to see what is the matter, and, as the hawk comes near, he supposes that he is about to be killed, and roars out “Murder!” The opening of his mouth enables the hawk to whisk the fish out of the pouch, upon which the pelican does not fly away, but commences fishing again, the fright having probably made him forget he had any thing in his purse.

A fish called mosheba, about the size of a minnow, often skims along the surface for several yards, in order to get out of the way of the canoe.  It uses the pectoral fins, as the flying-fish do, but never makes a clean flight.  It is rather a succession of hops along the surface, made by the aid of the side fins.  It never becomes large.

Numbers of iguanos (mpulu) sit sunning themselves on overhanging branches of the trees, and splash into the water as we approach.  They are highly esteemed as an article of food, the flesh being tender and gelatinous.  The chief boatman, who occupies the stem, has in consequence a light javelin always at hand to spear them if they are not quickly out of sight.  These, and large alligators gliding in from the banks with a heavy plunge as we come round a sudden bend of the stream, were the occurrences of every hour as we sped up the river.

The rapids in the part of the river between Katima-molelo and Nameta are relieved by several reaches of still, deep water, fifteen or twenty miles long.  In these very large herds of hippopotami are seen, and the deep furrows they make, in ascending the banks to graze during the nights, are every where apparent.  They are guided back to the water by the scent, but a long continued pouring rain makes it impossible for them to perceive, by that means, in which direction the river lies, and they are found bewildered on the land.  The hunters take advantage of their helplessness on these occasions to kill them.

It is impossible to judge of the numbers in a herd, for they are almost always hidden beneath the waters; but as they require to come up every few minutes to breathe, when there is a constant succession of heads thrown up, then the herd is supposed to be large.  They love a still reach of the stream, as in the more rapid parts of the channel they are floated down so quickly that much exertion is necessary to regain the distance lost by frequently swimming up again:  such constant exertion disturbs them in their nap.  They prefer to remain by day in a drowsy, yawning state, and, though their eyes are open, they take little notice of things at a distance.  The males utter a loud succession of snorting grunts, which may be heard a mile off.  The canoe in which I was, in passing over a wounded one, elicited a distinct grunting, though the animal lay entirely under water.