Chapter 17 Summary

It is time for Nhamo to leave the rock island before she dies of starvation. She submits to fate. She thinks she hears the voices of her mother and of Crocodile Guts talking to her, reassuring her. Nhamo lies in the boat and lets it take her where it will. She sees land and rows toward it.

The shoreline is steep, but she finds a fig tree with long roots where she can tie up the boat. Nhamo thanks her ancestors and the njuzu spirits for guiding her safely to this island. Using the fig tree roots like a ladder, Nhamo climbs up the sides of the banks to the rest of the island. There she finds bananas, tomatoes, and mealies growing in abundance. Nhamo begins to understand how this is. The Portuguese dammed up the river, creating this huge lake, but there...