The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

258 SOUTH AND KAsT AFIUCA.K;ifuk\\(.' l);isiu, there exists an cxti-cmcly curious species of antelope, whose broadfeet are better adapted for swinuning tlian for bounding over the phiins. TheseqitishohoH, as they arc called by the people of Bihe, pass nearly all their life in thewater, in which tho}- arc often seen to dive, leaving nothing above the surfaceexcept tlieir two twisted horns. At night they leave the river to browse on thesurrounding grassy plains. Their absence from the lower reaches of the rivermay perhaps ba attributed to the crocodiles, which are here very numerous andcxceiJtionallj- voracious. The nakong, another almost amphibious species of antelope,inhabits the muddy swamps which receive tlie discharge of the Chobe Eiver.The enormous size of his foot, which is no less than twelve inches to the extremityof the hoof, enables the nakong to jiass easily over the trembling quagmires withoutsinking.Like the quishobo, he also grazes at night, conccaUug himself duringthe day amid the tall reeds. When pursued he plunges into the stream, leavingnothing exposed except his back-curved horns and the tip of his nozzle. Thenatives set fire to the reeds in order to compel the nakong to leave his marshylair ; they rejoort that he will allow his horns to be consumed before quitting thewater and resuming his flight.Except in the Upper Zambese, where animal life is comparatively rare, themain stream as well as the riverain lagoons teem with several kinds of fishes.One of these, the Mosheba, which inhabits the waters of the Middle Zambese, hasthe power of flight, like the oceanic flying-fish. After the passage of boats itdarts into the track, and rising above the surface by the strength of its pectoralfins, follows in the wake for a distance of several yards. The fish-eagle (cttncutnafocifer) destroys an enormous quantity of fish, far more than he can possibl}' consume.Usually, he selects onlj' the dainty morsels on the back of the animal, andoften does not even take the trouble of capturing the prey himself. When hespies a pelican with its pouch dilated with store for future consumi^tiou, he dropslike a plummet, all the time beating his wings. This so scares the pelican that itraises its head and opens wide its great mandibles, from which the eagle, passinglike a flash, snatches the captured prey.All the marshy tracts are frequented by flocks of aquatic birds as numerous asthe penguins and seagulls on certain oceanic islands. The parra africana, one ofthese fish-eaters, is provided with such broad feet that he is able to advance intomid-stream on the outsjjread lotus leaves without bending them, walking, as itwere, on the surface of the water as on solid ground. The Zambese waters arealso infested by crocodiles, which are here extremely dangerous, thus differing fromtheir congeners in so many other rivers, where they never willingly attack man.Every j-car reports are constantly heard in the riverain villages of women andchildren snapjied off on the banks of the streams, of travellers and boatmen killedor mutilated by these voracious reptiles, which in the lower reaches of theZambese are said annually to devour about two hundred and fifty natives.Amongst all the riverain populations any person wounded by the crocodile isregarded as impure, and expelled from the tribe to avert the calamity his presencewould be sure to cause.