24Th.  Mpende sent two of his principal men to order the people of a large island below to ferry us across.  The river is very broad, and, though my men were well acquainted with the management of canoes, we could not all cross over before dark.  It is 1200 yards from bank to bank, and between 700 and 800 of deep water, flowing at the rate of 3-3/4 miles per hour.  We landed first on an island; then, to prevent our friends playing false with us, hauled the canoes up to our bivouac, and slept in them.  Next morning we all reached the opposite bank in safety.  We observed, as we came along the Zambesi, that it had fallen two feet below the height at which we first found it, and the water, though still muddy enough to deposit a film at the bottom of vessels in a few hours, is not nearly so red as it was, nor is there so much wreck on its surface.  It is therefore not yet the period of the central Zambesi inundation, as we were aware also from our knowledge of the interior.  The present height of the water has been caused by rains outside the eastern ridge.  The people here seem abundantly supplied with English cotton goods.  The Babisa are the medium of trade, for we were informed that the Bazunga, who formerly visited these parts, have been prevented by the war from coming for the last two years.  The Babisa are said to be so fond of a tusk that they will even sell a newly-married wife for one.  As we were now not far from the latitude of Mozambique, I was somewhat tempted to strike away from the river to that port, instead of going to the S.E., in the direction the river flows; but, the great object of my journey being to secure water-carriage, I resolved to continue along the Zambesi, though it did lead me among the enemies of the Portuguese.  The region to the north of the ranges of hills on our left is called Senga, from being the country of the Basenga, who are said to be great workers in iron, and to possess abundance of fine iron ore, which, when broken, shows veins of the pure metal in its substance.  It has been well roasted in the operations of nature.  Beyond Senga lies a range of mountains called Mashinga, to which the Portuguese in former times went to wash for gold, and beyond that are great numbers of tribes which pass under the general term Maravi.  To the northeast there are extensive plains destitute of trees, but covered with grass, and in some places it is marshy.  The whole of the country to the north of the Zambesi is asserted to be very much more fertile than that to the south.  The Maravi, for instance, raise sweet potatoes of immense size, but when these are planted on the southern bank they soon degenerate.  The root of this plant (’Convolvulus batata’) does not keep more than two or three days, unless it is cut into thin slices and dried in the sun, but the Maravi manage to preserve them for months by digging a pit and burying them therein inclosed in wood-ashes.  Unfortunately, the Maravi, and all the tribes on that side of the country, are at enmity with the Portuguese, and, as they practice night attacks in their warfare, it is dangerous to travel among them.