It was a subject of much regret to me that our stay could not be prolonged beyond three days. Adequately to explore all the features of the cataract, to visit the islands, and to investigate the character of the opposite shore would be the work of weeks, if not of months; and I am quite resolved that if ever I return to the Victoria Falls my visit shall not be hurried, and I hope that no such drawback as arose from the painful condition of my feet will again interfere to mar my enjoyment of the magnificent scene.
On one of the days that we stayed, I and my servant had a rencontre with a herd of baboons. We caught sight of them in one of the glens or chines which I have mentioned, and to which I afterwards assigned the name of “the baboon glen.” They were on the farther side, and being anxious to obtain a specimen of their skulls, I fired and killed one baboon; but, unfortunately for me, the creature fell into the river. At my second shot I wounded two more. This induced the right wing of the herd to retreat; but the main body kept their ground, and the left flank, moreover, assumed the aggressive, and commenced pelting us so vigorously with stones, that, remembering that I had only one cartridge left, I considered it far more prudent to withdraw than to run the risk of a hand-to-hand encounter. Accordingly we retired, most ignominiously defeated.
Some of the Batokas who resided upon the farther shore, under the dominion of their chief Mochuri, came over to us in their canoes, bringing goats, kaffir-corn beer, and beans for sale. I afterwards met one of them again at Sesheke; he was a sub-chieftain, and a relation of Mochuri’s. Sepopo, supposing that I had never seen a Batoka before, introduced him to me; I recognized the man at once, but he took care not to show that he knew me, as he was conscious of having bought guns of us in direct contravention of the king’s commands, an offence for which he was liable to the sentence of death.
Whilst I was engaged in completing my cartographical survey of the falls, I came across several herds of grazing pallahs. The Cape servants succeeded in shooting one of the graceful creatures, which are the most common of all the antelopes of the Zambesi.
On the evening before our departure we had an adventure with a lion, which terminated in a way that was somewhat amusing. I had returned from an expedition to the falls, and was followed by Walsh, who was coming back from one of his bird-hunts; he came in rather excited, declaring that in crossing a meadow on his way towards the river, he had seen a lion. The spot which he described was only about three-quarters of a mile away, and it did not require a very long consultation before we resolved forthwith to commence a lion-hunt. I confess I was not a little concerned when I heard that the ladies proposed to accompany us; but my objections were soon overruled, Mrs. Francis urging that she had already seen several lions killed, and Mrs. Westbeech, the bride of a few months, insisting that her husband should not go without her.
Vol. II.
Page 201.
THE LION EXPECTED.
The greater part of the Zambesi valley is thickly wooded, but as I have described, there are occasional tracts of meadow, almost bare of trees, bordered towards the stream by hedges of saro-palms. It had been in coming over one of these that Walsh had seen the lion spring from behind a tree, and disappear into the palm-thicket. On reaching the tree we found another tree close beside it, only about fifteen feet high, against the stem of which a pyramidal ant-hill had been erected.