G. Bickerton Grans. Eaton & ‘t i: Se ae | A y La Kc. ? te zy Vth; Be. “77 $$ pas SS —— a : : . t i = BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE GREAT CATARACTS OF THE ZAMBESI (CALLED MOSIOATUNYA, OR VICTORIA FALES) AND OF TIE ZIGZAG CHASM BELOW THE FALLS THROUGH WHICH THE RIVER ESCAPES. a A Qa. ay e a ta *%, Ja ane BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE GREA ZIGZAG NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE ZAMBESI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES ; AND OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE LAKES SHIRWA AND NYASSA. 1858—1864. By DAVID ann CHARLES LIVINGSTONE. ) AAAS eae tht N) ANN WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1865. The right of Translation is reserved. TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD PALMERSTON, K.G., G.C.B. My Lorp, I beg leave to dedicate this Volume to your Lordship, as a tribute justly due to the great Statesman who has ever had at heart the amelioration of the African race; and as a token of admiration of the beneficial effects of that policy which he has so long laboured to establish on the West Coast of Africa; and which, in improving that region, has most forcibly shown the need of some similar system on the opposite side of the Continent. DAVID LIVINGSTONE. PREFACE. —_e— Ir has been my object in this work to give as clear an account as I was able of tracts of country previously unex- plored, with their river systems, natural productions, and capabilities; and to bring before my countrymen, and all others interested in the cause of humanity, the misery entailed by the slave-trade in its inland phases; a subject on which I and my companions are the first who have had any oppor- tunities of forming a judgment. The eight years spent in Africa, since my last work was published, have not, I fear, improved my power of writing English; but I hope that, whatever my descriptions want in clearness, or literary skill, may in a measure be compensated by the novelty of the scenes described, and the additional information afforded on that curse of Africa, and that shame, even now, in the 19th century, of an European nation,—the slave-trade. I took the “Lady Nyassa” to Bombay for the express pur- pose of selling her, and might without any difficulty have done so; but with the thought of parting with her arose, more strongly than ever, the feeling of disinclination to abandon the East Coast of Africa to the Portuguese and slave-trading, and I determined to run home and consult my friends before I allowed the little vessel to pass from my hands. After, therefore, having put two Ajawa lads to school under the eminent Missionary the Rey. Dr. Wilson, and having pro- vided satisfactorily for the native crew, I started homewards with the three white sailors, and reached London July 20th, b vi PREFACE. 1864. _Mr. and Mrs. Webb, my much-loved friends, wrote to Bombay inviting me, in the event of my coming to Eng- land, to make Newstead Abbey my headquarters, and on my arrival renewed their invitation: and though, when I accepted it, I had no intention of remaining so long with my kind-hearted generous friends, I stayed with them until April, 1865, and under their roof transcribed from my own and my brother’s journal the whole of this present book. It is with heartfelt gratitude I would record their unwearied kindness. My acquaintance with Mr. Webb began in Africa, where he was a daring and successful hunter, and his con- tinued friendship is most valuable, because he has seen missionary work, and he would not accord his respect and esteem to me had he not believed that I, and my brethren also, were to be looked on as honest men earnestly trying to do our duty. The Government have supported the proposal of the Royal Geographical Society made by my friend Sir Roderick Mur- chison, and have united with that body to aid me in another attempt to open Africa to civilizing influences, and a valued private friend has given a thousand pounds for the same object. I propose to go inland, north of the territory which the Por- tuguese in Europe claim, and éndeavour to commence that system on the Hast which has been so eminently successful on the West Coast; a system combining the repressive efforts of H.M. cruisers with lawful trade and Christian Missions— the moral and material results of which have been so grati- fying. I hope to ascend the Rovuma, or some other river North of Cape Delgado, and, in addition to my other work, shall strive, by passing along the Northern end of Lake Nyassa and round the Southern end of Lake Tanganyika, to ascertain the watershed of that part of Africa. In so doing, I have no wish to unsettle what with so much toil and danger POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE. vil was accomplished by Speke and Grant, but rather to confirm their illustrious discoveries. I have to acknowledge the obliging readiness of Lord Russell in lending me the drawings taken by the artist who was in the first instance attached to the Expedition. These sketches, with photographs by Charles Livingstone and Dr. Kirk, have materially assisted in the illustrations. I would also very sincerely thank my friends Professor Owen and Mr. Oswell for many valuable hints and other aid in the preparation of this volume. Newstead Abbey, April 16, 1865. POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE. —_—1oo The credit which I was fain to award to the Lisbon statesmen for a sincere desire to put an end to the slave- trade, is, I regret to find, totally undeserved. They have employed one Mons. Lacerda, to try to extinguish the facts adduced by me before the meeting of the “British Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science,” at Bath, by a series of papers in the Portuguese Official Journal ; and their Minister for Foreign Affairs has since devoted some of the funds of his Government to the translation and circula- tion of Mons. Lacerda’s articles in the form of an English tract. Nothing is more conspicuous in this official document than the extreme ignorance displayed of the geography of the country of which they pretend that they possess not only the knowledge, but also the dominion. A vague rumour, cited by some old author, about two marshes below Murchison’s Cataracts, is considered conclusive evidence b 2 Vili POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE. that the ancient inhabitants of Senna, a village on the Zambesi, found no difficulty in navigating the Shire to Lake Nyassa up what modern travellers find to be an ascent of 1200 feet in 35 miles of latitude. A broad shallow lake, with a strong current, which Senhor Candido declared he had visited N.W. of Tette, is assumed to be the narrow deep Lake Nyassa, without current, and about N.N.E. of the same point. Great offence is also taken because the discovery of the main sources of the Nile has been ascribed to Speke and Grant, instead of to Ptolemy and F. Lobo. . But the main object of the Portuguese Government is not geographical. It is to bolster up that pretence to power which has been the only obstacle to the establishment of lawful commerce and friendly relations with the native inhabitants of Eastern Africa. The following work contains abundant confirmation of all that was advanced by me at the Bath meeting of the British Association; and I may here add that it is this unwarranted assumption of power over 1360 miles of coast—from English River to Cape Delgado, where the Portuguese have in fact little real authority —which perpetuates the barbarism of the inhabitants. The Portuguese interdict all foreign commerce, except at a very few pomts where they have established custom- houses, and even at these, by an exaggerated and obstructive tariff and differential duties, they completely shut out the natives from any trade, except that in slaves. Looking from South to North, let us glance at the enor- mous seaboard which the Portuguese in Europe endeavour to make us believe belongs to them. Delagoa Bay has a small fort called Lorenzo Marques, but nothing beyond the walls. At Inhambane they hold a small strip of land by sufferance of the natives. Sofala is in ruins, and from Quillimane north- POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE. ix wards for 690 miles, they have only one small stockade, protected by an armed launch in the mouth of the River Angoxa to prevent foreign vessels from trading there. Then at Mosambique they have the little island on which the fort stands, and a strip about three miles long on the mainland, on which they have a few farms, which are protected from hostility only by paying the natives an annual tribute, which they call “having the blacks in their pay.” The settlement has long been declining in trade and importance. It is gar- risoned by a few hundred sickly soldiers shut up in the fort, and eyen with a small coral island near can hardly be called secure. On the island of Oibo, or Iboe, an immense number of slaves are collected, but there is little trade of any kind. At Pomba Bay a small fort was made, but it is very doubtful whether it still exists; the attempt to form a settlement there having entirely failed. They pay tribute to the Zulus, for the lands they cultivate on the right bank of the Zambesi; and the general effect of the pretence to power and obstruction to commerce, is to drive the independent native chiefs to the Arab dhow slave-trade, as the only one open to them. It is well known to the English Government, from reliable documents at the Admiralty and Foreign Office, that no longer ago than November, 1864, two months after my speech was delivered at Bath, when the punishment of the perpetrators of an outrage on the crew of the cutter of H.M.S. “Lyra,” near a river 45 miles 8.W. of Mosambique, was demanded by H.M.S. “Wasp,” at Mosambique, the present Governor-General declared that he had no power over the natives there. They have never been subdued, and being a fine energetic race, would readily enter into commercial treaties with foreigners, were it not for the false assertion of power by which the Portuguese, with the tacit consent of 63 a: POSTSCRIPT TO PREFACE: 4s £ ae European Governments, shut them out from commerce and every civilizing influence. This Portuguese pretence to dominion is the curse of the negro race on the East Coast of Africa, and it would soon fall to the ground, were it not for the moral support it derives from the respect paid to it by our own flag. The ‘Emperor Napoleon III. disregarded it in the case of the “Charles et Georges,” while only by the aid of English sailors has the Government of Mosambique, on more than one occasion, been saved from being overturned. Our squadron on the East Coast costs over 70,0002. a year, and, by our acquiescence in the sham sovereignty of the Portuguese, we effect only a partial suppression of the slave-trade, and none of the commercial benefits which have followed direct dealing with the natives on the West Coast. A new law for the abolition of slavery has been proposed by the King of Portugal; but it inspires me with no confidence, as no means have ever been taken to put similar enactments already passed into execution, and we can only view this as a new bid for still further acquiescence in a system which per- petuates barbarism. Mons. Lacerda has unwittingly shown, by his eager advocacy, that the real sentiments of his employers are decidedly pro-slavery. The great fact that the Americans have rid themselves of the incubus of slavery, and will probably not tolerate the continuance of the murderous slave-trade by the Portuguese nation, has done more to elicit their king’s recent speech than the opinions of his ministry. bi CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Hopes oF THE AUTHOR. FAILURE OF SEARCH OF PORTUGUESE For Opuir. Earty Caruonic Misstons. Sir R. Murcui- son’s THEORY. LORD PALMERSTON’S POLICY. OBJECTS OCKEEXPRDELION) ge oss) 3.48. we aac) ah ate CHAPTER I. CONCEALMENT OF MoutTHs OF ZAMBESI BY PORTUGUESE. THE ZAMBESI AND ITS BANKS. “ FREE EMIGRANTS.” MARIANO. SENNA AND ITS “ONE VIRTUE,” SENHOR FERRAO, MaJor SIcCARD AND MaxKonLoLo. LUPATA GORGE .. .. CHAPTER II. Meret MAKoLoLo. SUPERSTITIONS. VOLUNTARY SLAVERY. TETTE, PLANTS, COAL, GOLD, AND IRON. KEBRABASA. MoruMBwa Sy eel RRs career oe oe oe oe CHAPTER III. NATIVE MUSICIANS. AFRICAN FEVER. RIVER SHIRE, FIRST ASCENT OF. Mourcuison’s CATARACTS. SECOND TRIP UP THE SHIRE. LAKE SHirwA. RETURN TO TETTE. STEAMER, BATRUBE OR.) Se> sa oe oe oe «e ee ee ee CHAPTER LY. THIRD TRIP UP THE SHIRE. Mount MoramBana. Hot roun- TAIN. PORTUGUESE GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE! SHIRE MARSHES. Brrps. BRACKISH SOIL AND COTTON. CHIBISA CHAPTER V. MANGANJA HIGHLANDS. BELIEF IN A SupreME BEING. Drs- COVERY OF LAKE Nyassa. Dr. RoscHEerR Pace 14 42 63 87 » xu CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. RETURN TO VESSEL. DriREcT ROUTE FROM CxHTIBISA’s TO TETTE. Orr To Konconr. RETURN TO TrETTE. BANYAI AND PortucuEse. TETTE, LAWS AND SOCIETY. ZULU TAX- GATHERERG\)5e)) Sushi 0 eM ona! | te 08 onde ie pet ye CHA Pit R: avin. START TO TAKE MaxkoLoLo Home. NEw PATH. SURVEY OF KEBRABASA COMPLETED. SANDIA’S REPORT... .. .. CHAPTER VIII. CuicovA. Native Discussions. THe MARCH. “'THE FEAR OF YOU AND THE DREAD OF YOU.” SoLO AND DUET BY OUR DONKEYS ARADO DI Bent sere OW BAG Ger WhO full. OH ARTE, AX TETTE GREY SANDSTONE AND COAL. SAGACITY OF ELEPHANTS. ANTS. SALT-MAKING. AFRICAN EMPIRES. SEQUASHA .. CHAPTER X. ZuUMBO. CATHOLIC MISSIONS, THEIR FAILURE. Fruits. “SMOKES.” TY ale HON GaWikt are von OAC UN ec ee eae yun eth eu ea aa CHAPTER XL Mission To MosEenEKATSE. THE BAWE AND BAENDA PEZI. BATOKA HIGHLANDS. DOGGED BY THE SLAVE-TRADE. AT- TEMPT TO SHUT UP THE RovumMA. FIRST GLIMPSE OF MosI-OA-TUNYA .... CHAPTER XIL INMOSTZOA=TUNMA. fe ves, Weis) erey ceil), lord eS Ga eo CHAPTER ,XIIE SERVITUDE OF INTERIOR. SEKELETU’S LEPROSY. DocTRESS AND Doctors. ‘TRADE WITH WEST COAST. Mr. HELMORE’S CHAPTER XIV. Tor Maxonono. Dr. LIVINGSTONE REVISITS LINYANTI. NATIVE DOUBTS OF THE RESURRECTION yi AR Te a Bee a Pace 130 174 184 203 219 250 262 281 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XV. DEPARTURE FROM SESHEKE. KALUNDA AND MoAmpBa FALLS. NATIVE FRUITS. GOLONGWE. SINAMANE .. oc oe oe CHAPTER XVI. Mormpa. KARIBA RAPIDS. RAPIDS OF KEBRABASA. REACH Terre 23rp NoveMBeER, 1860.. CHAPTER XVII. Down ‘to Konconr. THE END OF THE “ ASTHMATIC.” Kon- GONE AND THE MANGROVE SWAMPS CHAPTER XVIII. THE “PIONEER.” BisHop Mackenzie. THe Rovuma. THE SHIRE. SLAVES LIBERATED. THe AJAwA. MAGomMERO . CHAPTER XIX. START AGAIN FOR NyAssA. DESCRIPTION OF LAKE AND ITS SHORES. HoRRORS OF INLAND SLAVE-TRADE. MAZITU. ARAB GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER XX. Napoteon Ill. Arrivan or H.M.S. “Gorcon.” DEATH OF BisHop MACKENZIE AND oF Mr. Burrup. REVEREND J. STEWART. D=EATH oF Mrs. LIVINGSTONE CHAPTER XXI. CONNIVANCE OF GOVERNOR-GENERAL IN’ SLAVE-TRADE. LauncH oF THE “Lapy Nyassa.” ‘Ur THE Rovuma AGAIN. RocKY BARRIER. RETURN TO PIONEER.. CHAPTER XXII. QUILLIMANE. RETURN TO SHUPANGA. Famine. THE BisHop’s GRAVE. Mr. THORNTON: HIS DEATH. DESOLATION. SEPA- RATION. Dr. MELLER xill PAGE 203 ol7 008 348 365 400 418 445 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. START FOR UPPER CATARACTS OF SHIRE. AFRICAN POISONS. IRA CALTROR SXPEDITION) | oct yes) eee acess alee anon CHAPTER XXIV. Our ENGLISH SAILORS. KiIRK’S RANGE. AJAWA MIGRATIONS. Tur NEGRO TYPE. A SUPERHUMAN INSTRUCTOR .. .. « CHAPTER XXV. Kota-KotaA Bay. AFRICANS AND MoHAMMEDANS. AFRICAN RELIGION. Ratns. INUNDATIONS. CLIMATE. WATERSHED. NAT VENGHOGEAP EDV as nnee ine une nines CHAPTER XXVI. REASONS FOR RETURNING. AFRICAN Women, THEIR EMPLOY- MENTS .. oe oe ee oe oe oe oe ve oe oe o- CHAPTER XXVIL RESEMBLANCE OF AFRICAN HUNTERS TO EGYPTIAN FIGURES. DIALECTS. DIRECTION OF WIND. WET CLOTHES AND FEVER CHAPTER XXVIII. REST OF TROPICAL TREES. BisHoPp MACKENZIE’S SUCCESSOR. ABANDONMENT OF Mission. ZAMBESI IN FLOOD. ‘TAKEN IN TOW. HURRICANE. ARRIVAL AT BOMBAY .. .. .. CHAPTER XXIX. RESULTS OF EXPEDITION. SLAVE-TRADE A BARRIER TO ALL PROGRESS. THE AFRICAN. AFRICAN STAGNATION. STA- TISTICS OF SIERRA LEONE. EXPEDITIONS AND SETTLE- MENTS Meo 9. es, abl ee, cee Seo ie SER eo PAGE 464 481 511 539 546 569 585 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. . Bird’s-eye View of the Great Cataracts of the Zambesi .. .. Frontispiece. Pandanus or Screw Palm, covered with climbing plants, near the Kongone Canal of the Zambesi -. «-Thos. Baines, ft. To face page 19 3. View of Mazaro.—F pe between Portuguese and Rebels in the distance Ee 28 4, Dance of Landeens, or ils, come Pe lift the Anil Tribute from the Portuguese at Shupanga .. .. Thos. Baines, ft. op 30 5, The Grave of Mrs. ai under the Baobab-tree, near to Shupanga House .. . op 31 6. The Ma-Robert in the Fannie above Sees wa ae ne shaped Hill Kevramisa in the distance .. Thos. Baines, ft. oF 34 7. Landeens, or Zulus, who lift Tribute of the Portuguese at Senna, exhibiting War Exercises .. .. .. .. Thos. Baines, ft. r, 36 pe eapousterialing the Hippopotamus... -\s5) 6 22) 4) pel =. =), 13S . View of a portion of Kebrabasa Rapids SoS nn E AON CEMUG CIOS 10. Women with Water-pots, listening to the music of the ples: Sansa, and Pan’s Pipes 20 5 65 11. Mamvira Cataract, the first or lowest of Muichizen’ s Gatethets ae 35 18 12. African Fiddle of one String.. .. .. 66 bo om “to ook EB) 13. View of Steamer, Traps, and dead Ena poten qo oo de ee co | BS 14, Fish-basket .. .. .. sc Sen OO 15. Native web, and Weaver margin the fee arene of the coreie 50 24, 25. . Blacksmith’s Forge and Bellows of Goatskin .. «. «. «2 ee ee) (118 pelle om Lip-rine of Manganja Woman, 3. -. «2 a7 2. «a. 115 . “Goree,” or Slave-stick tego a ie hws tay Ucere BeSuh tee fe Ps Glo . Wedding Procession at Tette -- »- hos. Baines, fi. ‘To face page 144 PES RURPIOMEIP POO. ar see es just yas ase) cist ey as Pa LOG SUNIL OMPATESH ol P cat cl aw 34| “eds+ fe) ses en, tae bem SS meMUsicAIMEErOUMeHtS|; 2) 52F Je 5. ot; en se, ee Pebciloweandrotherslools ca je) \estuce qe Go -¢ am, «i ah OLf oo te co!) A Waist-belt .. .. or 5 ca) wile Gang of Captives met at iateniee son ele way to Tette oc To flee page 356 . An old Manganja Woman, showing the Pelele or Lip-ring and the tattooing in intersecting lines on face, arms, and body .. .. .. .. «. « 394 27. Beehive. Baskets employed by Women to catch Fish.. .. To face page 439 Zoe views Of@aillimane andeof the Pioneer? 5 | sa. cn cistiiasy scien e416 ERE OANA NELOW SS ln oe. eal) ads) oh> Gout See Uae cae dae een LOO BUS Ge ese vata VSN oes ica Wipe cop) pee wane bas to) lo ico! . oa. €EE Sila abi ONE Cael ae ne: WARMER aU oE SOOM MINOT MESO | woe gon. da ee Se MANOADIARSPCATSI | raat) ys) oe) as! (eet UbISe ae, le een oem 33. Woman grinding .. 2 APLCCe eee Meer pare Bo. Soo Ge Hee: 34, Native Mill for grinding Carn HE EMEC TRY “abe iho? ado eo) Abe, eet San MEARAVE DOW on” ya’ sie)” “sie!” aah vee’ stat week” ste vies maa Meee a) OO Map to Illustrate Dr. Livingstone’s Travels .. .. 1. .. At the end. 2, THE ZAMBESI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. INTERODUCTLON. Objects of the Expedition — Portuguese Expedition in search of the Ophir of King Solomon — India and not Africa indicated by the merchandise sought —Failure in Sofalla—Second Portuguese Expedition after gold-mines — Repulsed by large bodies of natives — Catholic Missions — Want of reliable information regarding them— Erroneous ideas as to the interior of Africa — Sir Roderick Murchison’s hypothesis correct — Decrease of slave-trade, and increase of lawful commerce on West Coast owing to Lord Palmerston’s policy — Fatality of the murderer attends the slave-trader — Opinion of Rev. J. L. Wilson on the slave-trade — The operations of our cruisers — II] effects of sealing up the East Coast — Instructions to the Expedition, Woe first I determined on publishing the narrative of my ‘ Missionary Travels,’ I had a great misgiving as to whether the criticism my endeavours might provoke would be friendly or the reverse, more particularly as I felt that I had then been so long a sojourner in the wilderness, as to be quite a stranger to the British public. But I am now in this, my second essay at authorship, cheered by the conviction that very many readers, who are personally unknown-to me, will — receive this narrative with the kindly consideration and allowances of friends; and that many more, under the genial influences of an innate love of liberty, and of a desire to see the same social and religious blessings they themselves enjoy, disseminated throughout the world, will sympathize with me in the efforts by which I have striven, B 2 INTRODUCTION. however imperfectly, to elevate the position and character of our fellow-men in Africa. This knowledge makes me doubly anxious to render my narrative acceptable to all my readers ; but, in the absence of any excellence in literary composition, the natural consequence of my pursuits, I have to offer only a simple account of a mission which, with respect to the objects proposed to be thereby accomplished, formed a noble contrast to some of the earlier expeditions to Eastern Africa. I be- lieve that the information it will give, respecting the people visited and the countries traversed, will not be materially gainsaid by any future commonplace traveller like myself, who may be blest with fair health and a gleam of sunshine in his breast. This account is written in the earnest hope that it may contribute to that information which will yet cause the great and fertile continent of Africa to be no longer kept wantonly sealed, but made available as the scene of European enterprise, and will enable its people to take a place among the nations of the earth, thus securing the happiness and prosperity of tribes now sunk in barbarism or debased by slavery ; and, above all, I cherish the hope that it may lead to the introduction of the blessings of the Gospel. The first expedition sent to Hast Africa, after the Portu- euese had worked a passage round the Cape, was instituted under the auspices of the Government of Portugal, for the purpose, it is believed, of discovering the land of Ophir, made mention of in Holy Scripture as the country whence King Solomon obtained sandal-wood, ivory, apes, peacocks, and gold. The terms used by the Jews to express the first four articles had, according to Max Miiller, no existence in the Hebrew language, but were words imported into it from the Sanscrit. It is curious then, that the search was not directed to the Coast of India,—more particularly as Sanscrit was DSI INTRODUCTION. 3 known on the Malabar Coast,—and there also peacocks and sandal-wood are met with in abundance. The Portuguese, like some others of more modern times, were led to believe that Sofalla, because sometimes pronounced Zophar by the Arabs, from being the lowest or most southerly port they visited, was identical with the Ophir alluded to in Sacred History. Eastern Africa had been occupied from the most remote times by traders from India and the Red Sea. Vasco da Gama, in 1497-8, found them firmly established at Mosam- bique, and, after reaching India, he turned with longing eyes from Calicut towards Sofalla, and actually visited it in 1502. As the Scriptural Ophir, it was expected to be the most lucrative of all the Portuguese stations; and, under the impression that an important settlement could be esta- blished there, the Portuguese conquered, at great loss of both men and money, the district in which the gold-washings were situated; but, in the absence of all proper machinery, a vast amount of labour returned so small an amount of gain, that they abandoned them in disgust. The next expedition, consisting of three ships and a thousand men, mostly gentlemen volunteers, left Lisbon in 1569 for the conquest of the gold mines or washings of the Chief of Monomotapa, west of Tette, and of those in Manica, still further west, but in a more southerly direction ; and also to find a route to the west coast. In this last object they failed; and to this day it has been accomplished by only. one European, and that an Englishman. The expedition was commanded by Francisco Barreto, and abundantly sup- plied with horses, asses, camels, and provisions. Ascend- ing the Zambesi as far as Senna, they found many Arab and other traders already settled there, who received the strangers with great hospitality. The horses, however, B2 4 INTRODUCTION. having passed through a district abounding with tsetse, an insect whose bite is fatal to domestic animals, soon showed the emaciation peculiar to the poison; and Senna being notoriously unhealthy, the sickness of both men and horses aroused Barreto’s suspicion that poison had been admini- stered by the inhabitants, most of whom, consequently, he put to the sword or blew away from his guns. Marching beyond Senna with a party five hundred and sixty strong, he and his men suffered terribly from hunger and thirst, and, after being repeatedly assaulted by a large body of natives, the expedition was compelled to return without ever reaching the gold-mines which Barreto so eagerly sought. Previous to this, however, devoted Roman Catholic mis- sionaries had penetrated where an army could not go; for Senhor Bordalo, in his excellent Historical Essays, mentions that the Jesuit father Goncalo da Silveira had already suffered martyrdom by command of the Chief of Monomotapa. Indeed, missionaries of that body of Christians established themselves in a vast number of places in Eastern Africa, as the ruins of mission stations still testify ; but, not having suc- ceeded in meeting with any reliable history of the labours of these good men, it is painful for me to be unable to contradict the calumnies which Portuguese writers still heap on their memory. So far as the impression left on the native mind goes, it is decidedly favourable to their zeal and piety ; while the writers referred to roundly assert that the missionaries engaged in the slave-trade ; which is probably as false as the more modern scandals occasionally retailed against their Protestant brethren. Philanthropists sometimes err in ac- cepting the mere gossip of coast villages as facts, when asserting the atrocities of our countrymen abroad; while others, pretending to regard all philanthropy as weakness, INTRODUCTION. 5 yet practising that silliest of all hypocrisies, the endeavour to appear worse than they are, accept and publish the mere brandy-and-water twaddle of immoral traders, against a body of men who, as a whole, are an honour to human kind. In modern missionary literature, now widely spread, we have a record which will probably outlive all misrepresentation ; and it is much to be regretted that there is no available Catholic literature of the same nature, and that none of the translations which may have been made into the native tongues can now be consulted. We cannot believe that these good men would risk their lives for the unholy gains which, even were they lawful, by the rules of their order they could not enjoy; but it would be extremely interesting to all their successors to know exactly what were the real causes of their failure in perpetuating the faith. In order that the following narrative may be clearly under- stood, it is necessary to call to mind some things which took place previous to the Zambesi Expedition being sent out. Most geographers are aware that, before the discovery of Lake Ngami and the well watered country in which the Makololo dwell, the idea prevailed that a large part of the interior of Africa consisted of sandy deserts, into which rivers ran and were lost. During my journey in 1852-6, from sea to sea, across the south intertropical part of the continent, it was found to be a well watered country, with large tracts of fine fertile soil covered with forest, and beautiful grassy valleys, occupied by a considerable population ; and one of the most wonderful waterfalls in the world was brought to light. The peculiar form of the continent was then ascertained to be an elevated plateau, somewhat depressed in the centre, and with fissures in the sides by which the rivers escaped to the sea; and this great fact in physical 6 INTRODUCTION, geography can never be referred to without calling to mind the remarkable hypothesis by which the distinguished Presi- dent of the Royal Geographical Society (Sir Roderick I. Murchison) clearly indicated this peculiarity, before it was verified by actual observation of the altitudes of the country and by the courses of the rivers. New light was thrown on other portions of the continent by the famous travels of Dr. Barth, by the researches of the Church of England Missionaries Krapf, Erkhardt, and Rebman, by the persever- ing efforts of Dr. Baikie, the last martyr to the climate and English enterprise, by the journey of Francis Galton, and by the most interesting discoveries of Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza by Captain Burton, and by Captain Speke, whose untimely end we all so deeply deplore. Then followed the researches of Van der Decken, Thornton, ‘and others ; and last of all the grand discovery of the main source of the Nile, which every Englishman must feel an honest pride in knowing was accomplished by our gallant countrymen, Speke and Grant. The fabulous torrid zone, of parched and burning sand, was now proved to be a well watered region resembling North America in its fresh-water lakes, and India in its hot humid lowlands, jungles, ghauts, and cool highland plains. In our exploration the chief object in view was not to discover objects of nine days’ wonder, to gaze and be gazed at by barbarians; but to note the climate, the natural productions, the local diseases, the natives and their relation to the rest of the world; all which were observed with that peculiar interest which, as regards the future, the first white man cannot but feel in a continent whose history is only just beginning. When proceeding to the West Coast, in order to find a path to the sea by which lawful commerce might INTRODUCTION. a be introduced to aid missionary operations, it was quite striking to observe, several hundreds of miles from the ocean, the very decided influence of that which is known as Lord Palmerston’s policy. Piracy had been abolished, and the slave-trade so far suppressed, that it was spoken of by Portuguese, who had themselves been slave-traders, as a thing of the past. Lawful commerce had increased from an annual total of 20,0002. in ivory and gold-dust, to between two and three millions, of which one million was in palm oil to our own country. Over twenty Missions had been established, with schools, in which more than twelve thousand pupils were taught. Life and property were rendered secure on the Coast, and comparative peace imparted to millions of people in the interior, and all this at a time when, by the speeches of infiu- ential men in England, the world was given to understand that the English cruisers had done nothing but aggravate the evils of the slave-trade. It is so reasonable to expect that self-interest would induce the slave-trader to do his utmost to preserve the lives by which he makes his gains, that men yielded ready credence to the plausible theory; but the atrocious waste of human life was just as great when the slave-trade was legal; it always has been, and must be, marked by the want of foresight characteristic of the mur- derer. Every one wonders why he, who has taken another’s life, did not take this, that, or the other precaution to avoid detection ; and every one may well wonder why slave-traders have always, by over-crowding and all its evils, acted so much in direct opposition to their own interests, but it is the fatality of the murderer; the loss of life from this cause, simply baffles exaggeration. On this subject the opinion of the Rey. J. L. Wilson, a most intelligent American Missionary, who has written by . 8 INTRODUCTION. far the ablest work on the West Coast that has yet appeared, is worth a host. He declares that the efforts of the English Government are worthy of all praise. Had it not been for the cruisers, and especially those of England, Africa would still have been inaccessible to missionary labour; “and it is devoutly to be hoped,” he adds, “that these noble and dis- interested measures may not be relaxed until the foul demon be driven away from the earth.” The slave-trade is the greatest obstacle in existence to civilization and commercial progress; and as the English are the most philanthropic people in the world, and will probably always have the largest commercial stake in the African continent, the policy for its suppression in every possible way shows thorough wisdom and foresight. When, in pursuit of the same object, the Hast Coast was afterwards reached, it was found sealed up. Although praise- worthy efforts had been made by Her Majesty’s cruisers, yet in consequence of foreigners being debarred from entering the country, neither traders nor missionaries had established themselves. The trade was still only in’a little ivory, gold-dust, and slaves, just as it was on the West Coast, before Lord Palmerston’s policy came into operation there. It was, however, subsequently discovered that the Portuguese Government professed itself willing, nay anxious, to let the country be opened to the influences of civilization and lawful commerce—indeed it could scarcely be otherwise, seeing that not a grain of benefit ever accrued to Portugal by shutting it up;—and the Zambesi, a large river, promised to be a fine inlet to the highlands and interior generally ; the natives were agricultural, and all fond of trading; the soil was fertile—indigo, cotton, tobacco, sugar-cane, and other articles of value, were already either cultivated or growing INTRODUCTION. g wild. It seemed, therefore, that if this region could be opened to lawful commerce and Christian Missions, it would have the effect of aiding or supplementing our cruisers in the same way as had been done by the missionaries and traders on the West Coast, and that an inestimable service would be thereby rendered to Africa and Europe. The main object of the Zambesi Expedition, as our instruc- tions from Her Majesty's Government explicitly stated, was to extend the knowledge already attained of the geography and mineral and agricultural resources of Eastern and Cen- tral Africa—to improve our acquaintance with the inhabi- tants, and to endeavour to engage them to apply themselves to industrial pursuits and to the cultivation of their lands, with a view to the production of raw material to be exported to England in return for British manufactures; and it was hoped, that, by encouraging the natives to occupy themselves in the development of the resources of the country, a con- siderable adyance might be made towards the extinction of the slaye-trade, as they would not be long in discovering that the former would eventually be a more certain source of profit than the latter. The Expedition was sent in ac- cordance with the settled policy of the English Government ; and the Earl of Clarendon, being then at the head of the Foreign Office, the Mission was organized under his imme- diate care. When a change of Government ensued, we experienced the same generous countenance and sympathy from the Earl of Malmesbury, as we had previously received from Lord Clarendon; and, on the accession of Earl Russell to the high office he has so long filled, we were always fayoured with equally ready attention and the same prompt assistance. Thus the conviction was produced that our work embodied the principles, not of any one party, but of the 10 INTRODUCTION. hearts of the statesmen and of the people of England generally. The Expedition owes great obligations to the Lords of the Admiralty for their unvarying readiness to render us every assistance in their power; and to the warm- hearted and ever-obliging hydrographer to the Admiralty, the late Admiral Washington, as a subordinate, but most effective agent, our heartfelt gratitude is also due; and we must ever thankfully acknowledge that our efficiency was mainly due to the kind services of Admirals Sir Frederick Grey, Sir Baldwin Walker, and all the naval officers serving under them on the Hast Coast. Nor must I omit to record our obligations to Mr. Skead, R.N. The Luawe was carefully sounded and surveyed by this officer, whose skilful and zealous labours, both on that river, and afterwards on the Lower Zambesi, were deserving of all praise. In speaking of what has been done by the Expedition, it should always be understood that Dr. Kark, Mr. Charles Livingstone, Mr. R. Thornton, and others composed it. In using the plural number they are meant, and I wish to bear testimony to the untirmg zeal, energy, courage, and perseverance with which my companions laboured ; undaunted by difficulties, dangers, or hard fare. It is my firm belief that, were their services required in any other capacity, they might be implicitly relied on to perform their duty like men. The reason why Dr. Kirk’s name does not appear on the title-page of this narrative is, because it is hoped that he may give an account of the botany and natural history of the Expedition in a separate work from his own pen. He collected above four thousand species of plants, specimens of most of the valuable woods, of the different native manufac- tures, of the articles of food, and of the different kinds of cotton from every spot we visited, and a great variety of birds INTRODUCTION. 11 and insects; besides making meteorological observations, and affording g, as our instructions required, medical assist- ance to the natives In every case where he could be of any use. Charles Livingstone was also fully occupied in his duties in following out the general objects of our mission, in en- couraging the culture of cotton, in making many magnetic and meteorological observations, in photographing so long as the materials would serve, and in collecting a large number of birds, insects, and other objects of interest. The collections, being Government property, have been forwarded to the British Museum, and to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew; and, should Dr. Kirk undertake their description, three or four years will be required for the purpose. Though collections were made, it was always distinctly understood that, however desirable these and our explora- tions might be, “ Her Majesty’s Government attached more importance to the moral influence that might be exerted on the minds of the natives by a well regulated and orderly household of Europeans setting an example of consistent moral conduct to all who might witness it ; treating the people with kindness, and relieving their wants, teaching them to make experi- ments in agriculture, explaining to them the more simple arts, imparting to them religious instruction as far as they are capable of receiving it, and inculcating peace and good will to each other.” It would be tiresome to enumerate in detail all the little acts which were performed by us while following out our in- structions. As a rule, whenever the steamer stopped to take in wood, or for any other purpose, Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone went ashore to their duties: one of our party, who it was intended should navigate the vessel and lay 12 INTRODUCTION. down the geographical positions, having failed to answer the expectations formed of him, these duties fell chiefly to my share. ‘They involved a considerable amount of night work, in which I was always cheerfully aided by my com- panions, and the results were regularly communicated to our warm and ever-ready friend, Sir Thomas Maclear of the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope. While this work was going through the press, we were favoured with the longitudes of several stations determined from observed occultations of stars by the moon, and from eclipses and reappearances of Jupiter’s satellites, by Mr. Mann, the able Assistant to the Cape Astronomer Royal; the lunars are still in the hands of Mr. G. W. H. Maclear of the same Observa- tory. In addition to these, the altitudes, variation of the compass, latitudes and longitudes, as calculated on the spot, appear in the map by Mr. Arrowsmith, and it is hoped may not differ much from the results of the same data in abler hands. The office of ‘ skipper,” which, rather than let the Expedition come to a stand, I under- took, required no great ability in one “not too old to learn:” it saved a salary, and, what was much more valu- able than gold, saved the Expedition from the drawback of any one thinking that he was indispensable to its further progress. The office required attention to the vessel both at rest and in motion. It also involved considerable exposure to the sun; and to my regret kept me from much antici- pated intercourse with the natives, and the formation of full vocabularies of their dialects. I may add that all wearisome repetitions are as much as possible avoided in the narrative; and, our movements and operations haying previously been given in a series of despatches, the attempt is now made to give as fairly as INTRODUCTION. 13 possible just what would most strike any person of ordinary intelligence in passing through the country. For the sake of the freshness which usually attaches to first impressions, the Journal of Charles Livingstone has been incorporated in the narrative; and many remarks made by the natives, which he put down at the moment of translation, will convey to others the same ideas as they did to ourselves. Some are no doubt trivial; but it is by the little acts and words of every-day life that character is truly and best known. And doubtless many will prefer to draw their own conclusions from them rather than to be schooled by us. 14 REACH THE COAST. Cuap. I. CHAPTER & Reach the Coast — Explore River Luawe—Mouths of Zambesi — Concealed to deceive English cruisers— The deception palmed off on European Govern- ments by Ministers in Portugal — Official testimony — Kongone — Scenery on the river — Fertility of Delta soil— Colonos or serfs — Deep channel of river — Land luggage on Expedition Island— Country in a state of war — “Free emigrants” — Atrocities of Mariano— Meet so-called “rebels” — A fight between natives and Portuguese — An army waiting for ammunition — Birds and beasts met with on the river—Mazaro—The reshipment of merchandise there for Quillimane —Shupanga — Zulu dominion on right bank of Zambesi— Tribute paid by the Portuguese —Senna and Senhor Ferrio — Seguati or present — Hippopotamus hunters — Peculiarity of Baobab-trees — Lupata gorge. THE Expedition left England on the 10th of March, 1858, in Her Majesty’s Colonial Steamer “ Pearl,” commanded by Captain Duncan; and, after enjoying the generous hospi- tality of our friends at Cape Town, with the obliging atten- tions of Sir George Grey, and receiving on board Mr. Francis Skead, R.N., as surveyor, we reached the Hast Coast in the following May. Our first object was to explore the Zambesi, its mouths and tributaries, with a view to their being used as highways for commerce and Christianity to pass into the vast interior of Africa. When we came within five or six miles of the land, the yellowish-green tinge of the sea in soundings was suddenly succeeded by muddy water with wrack, as of a river in flood. The two colours did not intermingle, but the line of contact was as sharply defined as when the ocean meets the land. It was observed that under the wrack—consisting of reeds, Cuap. I. THE RIVER LUAWE. 5 sticks, and leayes,—and even under floating cuttlefish bones and Portuguese “ men-of-war” (Physalia), numbers of small fish screen themselves from the eyes of birds of prey, and from the rays of the torrid sun. The coast is low and covered with mangrove swamps, among which are sandy patches clothed with grass, creeping plants, and stunted palms. The land trends nearly east and west, without any notable feature to guide the navigator, and it is difficult to make out the river’s mouth; but the water shoals gradually, and each fathom of lessening depth marks about a mile. We entered the River Luawe first, because its entrance is so smooth and deep, that the “Pearl,” drawing 9 feet 7 inches, went in without a boat sounding ahead. A small steam launch having been brought out from England in three sections on the deck of the “ Pearl” was hoisted out and screwed together at the anchorage, and with her aid the exploration was commenced. She was called the “ Ma Robert,” after Mrs. Livingstone, to whom the natives, accord- ing to their custom, gave the name Ma (mother) of her eldest son. The harbour is deep, but shut in by mangrove swamps; and though the water a few miles up is fresh, it is only a tidal river ; for, after ascending some seventy miles, it was found to end in marshes blocked up with reeds and succulent aquatic plants. As the Luawe had been called “ West Luabo,” it was supposed to be a branch of the Zam- besi, the main stream of which is called “Luabo,” or “ East LIuabo.” The “Ma Robert” and “ Pearl” then went to what proved to be a real mouth of the river we sought. The Zambesi pours its water into the ocean by four mouths, namely, the Milambe, which is the most westerly the Kongone, the Luabo, and the Timbwe (or Muselo). 16 DECEPTION TO ENGLISH CRUISERS. Cuap. I. When the river is in flood, a natural canal running parallel with the coast, and winding very much among the swamps, forms a secret way for conveying slaves from Quillimane to the bays Massangano and Nameara, or to the Zambesi itself. The Kwakwa, or river of Quillimane, some sixty miles distant from the mouths of the Zambesi, has long been represented as the principal entrance to the Zambesi, in order, as the Portuguese now maintain, that the English cruisers might be induced to watch the false mouth, while slaves were quietly shipped from the true one; and strange to say this error has lately been propagated by a map issued by the colonial minister of Portugal.* * Stranger still, the Portuguese of- ficial paper, ‘‘Annaes do Conselho Ultramarinho” for 1864 shamelessly asserts that “in that harbour (Kon- gone), which Dr. Livingstone says he discovered, many vessels with slaves have taken refuge from the persecu- tions of English cruisers.” This (shall we admit?) was known to the Por- tuguese Government! Would any other gentleman in Europe construct a map such as that mentioned in the text, and send it to the English Go- vernment as showing the true mouth of the Zambesi? We did not think of printing the following letter from one Portuguese official to another in Africa, till we saw the poor swagger of the Lisbon official paper, evidently in- tended for other statesmen in Europe. The editor of a Cape paper says— *‘ Chevalier Duprat has, by the same opportunity, received a communication from the Portuguese governor of Tette, of which the following is a translation : ‘Sir,—When in the middle of last year, was delivered to me by the hands of Dr. Livingstone, the letters with which your Excellency honoured me, under date of April of that same year, I was at that moment involved in war with the Kafirs of the district of Senna. After this, other works, affairs and ailing health, prevented me from im- mediately addressing to your Excel- lency my thanks for the kind expres- sions with which I have been honoured by you. Your Excellency recom- mended to me the illustrious Dr. Livingstone. My relations with this gentleman are so sympathetic that I can never omit rendering him the ser- vices which he requires, and which are within my reach. Still, my wishes are subordinate to my powers, both as an individual and as an authority. I am aware how profitable to geo- graphical knowledge and science are the explorations of the Doctor, as well as to the prosperity of this country,— as rich as neglected. I sincerely hope it will be in my power to help him as I could wish. Nevertheless, I assure your Excellency that I will serve him as far as lies in my power. It is said that our Government is about to es- Cuap. I. OFFICIAL TESTIMONY. 1 After the examination of three branches by the able and energetic surveyor, Francis Skead, R.N., the Kongone was found to be the best entrance. The immense amount of sand brought down by the Zambesi has in the course of ages formed a sort of promontory, against which the long swell of the Indian Ocean, beating during the prevailing winds, has formed bars, which, acting against the waters The Kongone is one of these lateral branches, and the safest ; inasmuch as the bar has nearly two fathoms on it at low of the delta, may have led to their exit sideways. water, and the rise at spring tides is from twelve to fourteen feet. The bar is narrow, the passage nearly straight, and, were it buoyed and a beacon placed on Pearl Island, would always be safe to a steamer. When the wind is from the east or north, the bar is smooth; if from the south and south-east, it has a heavy break on it, and is not to be attempted in boats. A strong current setting to the east when the tide is flowing, and to the west when ebbing, may drag a boat or ship into the breakers. If one is doubtful of his longitude and runs east, he will soon see the land at Timbwe disappear away to the north; and coming tablish a post at the bar of Luabo; and from there to carry on direct navi- gation to this district. Should this take place, great advantages will re- sult to this country, and to Living- stone’s great glory, because he was the first who passed over from the sea by this way of communication. I thank your Excellency for the news- papers with which you furnished me. I appreciate them as articles which very seldom appear here. Your Ex- cellency also obliged me with some seeds; but, unfortunately, I was at Mosambique, and having planted them this year, they produced little; I fear they were already old. My capability for service is very limited, but if your Excellency thinks that I can be of any use, I shall be most gratified. ‘T have, &c., ‘Trto A. p’A. Sricarp, Governor of Tette. ‘ Tette, July 9, 1859.’ “These letters were brought to Natal by H.M.’s brig ‘ Persian,’ which had called there from Mosambique for supplies, and were put on board the ‘ Waldensian,’ as she steamed out.” Cc 18 THE KONGONE. Cuap. I. west again, he can easily make out East Luabo from its great size; and Kongone follows seven miles west. East Luabo has a good but long bar, and not to be attempted unless the wind be north-east or east. It has sometimes been called “ Barra Catrina,” and was used in the embarkations of slaves. This may have been the “River of Good Signs,” of Vasco da Gama, as the mouth is more easily seen from the seaward than any other; but the absence of the pillar dedicated by that navigator to “St. Raphael,” leaves the matter in doubt. No Portuguese live within eighty miles of any mouth of the Zambesi. The names given by the natives refer more to the land on each side than to the streams; thus, one side of the Kongone is Nyamisenga, the other Nyangalule; and Kongone, the name of a fish, is applied to one side of the natural canal which leads into the Zambesi proper, or Cuama, and gives the port its value. When a native of the temperate north first lands in the tropics, his feelings and emotions resemble in some respects those which the First Man may have had on his entrance into the Garden of Eden. He has set foot in a new world, another state of existence is before him; everything he sees, every sound that falls upon the ear, has all the freshness and charm of novelty. The trees and the plants are new, the flowers and the fruits, the beasts, the birds, and the insects are curious and strange; the very sky itself is new, glowing with colours, or sparkling with constellations, never seen in northern climes. The Kongone is five miles east of the Milambe, or western branch, and seven miles west from East Luabo, which again is five miles from the Timbwe. We saw but few natives, and these, by escaping from their canoes into the mangrove thickets the moment they caught sight of us, gave unmis- =—— SES SSSSs Ti = SSS PANDANUS OR SCREW PALM, COVERED WITH CLIMBING PLANTS, NEAR THE KONGONE CANAL OF THE ZAMBESI. ; Cuap. I. SCENERY ON THE KONGONE. ig takeable indications that they had no very favourable opinion of white men. They were probably fugitives from Portuguese slavery. In the grassy glades buffaloes, wart- hogs, and three kinds of antelope were abundant, and the latter easily obtained. A few hours’ hunting usually pro- vided venison enough for a score of men for several days. On proceeding up the Kongone branch it was found that, by keeping well in the bends, which the current had worn deep, shoals were easily avoided. The first twenty miles are straight and deep; then a small and rather tortuous natural canal leads off to the right, and, after about five miles, during which the paddles almost touch the floating grass of the sides, ends in the broad Zambesi. The rest of the Kongone branch comes out of the main stream considerably higher up as the outgoing branch called Doto. The first twenty miles of the Kongone are enclosed in mangrove jungle; some of the trees are ornamented with orchilla weed, which appears never to have been gathered. Huge ferns, palm bushes, and occasionally wild date- palms peer out in the forest, which consists of different species of mangroves; the bunches of bright yellow, though scarcely edible fruit, contrasting prettily with the graceful green leaves. In some spots the Milola, an umbrageous hibiscus, with large yellowish flowers, grows in masses along the bank. Its bark is made into cordage, and is especially valuable for the manufacture of ropes attached to harpoons for killing the hippopotamus. The Pandanus or screw- palm, from which sugar-bags are made in the Mauritius, also appears, and on coming out of the canal into the Zambesi many are so tall as in the distance to remind us of the steeples of our native land, and make us relish the remark of an old sailor, “that but one thing was wanting to c 2 20 FERTILITY OF SOIL. Cuapr. I. complete the picture, and that was ‘a grog-shop near the church.” We find also a few guava and lime-trees growing wild, but the natives claim the crops. The dark woods resound with the lively and exultant song of the kinghunter (Halcyon striolata), as he sits perched on high among the trees. As the steamer moves on through the winding channel, a pretty little heron or bright kingfisher darts out in alarm from the edge of the bank, flies on ahead a short distance, and settles quietly down to be again frightened off in a few seconds as we approach. The magnificent fishhawk (Halietus vocefer) sits on the top of a mangrove-tree, digesting his morning meal of fresh fish, and is clearly unwilling to stir until the imminence of the danger compels him at last to spread his great wings for flight. ‘The glossy ibis, acute of ear to a re- markable degree, hears from afar the unwonted sound of the paddles, and, springing from the mud where his family has been quietly feasting, is off, screaming out his loud, harsh, and defiant Ha! ha! ha! long before the danger is near. The mangroves are now left behind and are succeeded by vast level plains of rich dark soil, covered with gigantic grasses, so tall that they tower over one’s head, and render hunting impossible. Beginning in July the grass is burned off every year after it has become dry. ‘These fires prevent the growth of any great amount of timber, as only a few trees from among the more hardy kinds, such as the Borassus-palm and lignum-vite, can live through the sea of fire, which annually roars across the plains. Several native huts now peep out from the bananas and cocoa-palms on the right bank; they stand on piles a few feet above the low damp ground, and their owners enter them by means of ladders. The soil is wonderfully rich, and the gardens are really excellent. Rice is cultivated largely ; Cuap. I. “COLONOS,” OR SERFS. 21 sweet potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes, cabbages, onions (sha- lots), peas, a little cotton, and sugar-cane are also raised. It is said that English potatoes, when planted at Quillimane on soil resembling this, in the course of two years become in taste like sweet potatoes (convolvulus batatas), and are like our potato frosted. The whole of the fertile region extending from the Kongone canal to beyond Mazaro, some eighty miles in length, and fifty in breadth, is admirably adapted for the growth of sugar-cane; and were it in the hands of our friends at the Cape, would supply all Europe with sugar. The remarkably few people seen appeared to be tolerably well fed, but there was a shivering dearth of clothing among them; all were blacks, and nearly all Portu- guese “colonos” or serfs. They manifested no fear of white men, and stood in groups on the bank gazing in astonishment at the steamers, especially at the “Pearl,” which accompanied us thus far up the river. One old man who came on board remarked that never before had he seen any vessel so large as the “Pearl,” it was like a village, “ Was it made out of one tree?” All were eager traders, and soon came off to the ship in light swift canoes with every kind of fruit and food they possessed; a few brought honey and beeswax, which are found in quantities in the mangrove forests. As the ships steamed off, many anxious sellers ran along the bank, holding up fowls, baskets of rice and meal, and shouting “ Malonda, Malonda,” “things for sale,” while others followed in canoes, which they sent through the water with great velocity by means of short broad-bladed paddles. The deep channel, or Qwete as the canoe-men call it, of the Zambesi is winding, and narrow when con- trasted with the great breadth of the river itself. The 22 DEEP CHANNEL OF RIVER. Cuar. J. river bottom appears to be a succession of immense sub- merged sandbanks, having, when the stream is low, from one to four feet of water on them. The main channel runs for some distance between the sandbank and the river's bank, with a depth in the dry season varying from five to fifteen feet, and a current of nearly two knots an hour. It then turns and flows along the lower edge of the sandbank in a diagonal direction across the river, and continues this process, winding from bank to bank repeatedly during the day’s sail, making expert navigators on the ocean feel help- lessly at sea on the river. On these crossings the channel is shallowest. It is in general pretty clearly defined. In calm weather there is a peculiar boiling up of its water from some action below. With a light breeze the Qwete assumes a characteristic ripple, and when the wind freshens and blows up the river, as it usually does from May to November, the waves on it are larger than those of other parts of the river, and a line of small breakers marks the edge of the shoal-bank above. Finding the “ Pearl’s” draught too great for that part of the river near the island of Simbo, where the branch called the Doto is given off to the Kongone on the right bank, and another named Chinde departs to the secret canal already mentioned on the left, the goods belonging to the expedition were taken out of her, and placed on one of the grassy islands about forty miles from the bar. The “ Pearl” then left us, and we had to part with our good friends Duncan and Skead; the former for Ceylon, the latter to return to his duties as Government Surveyor at the Cape. Of those who eventually did the work of the expedition the majority took a sober common-sense view of the enterprise Cuap. I. EXPEDITION ISLAND, 23 in which we were engaged. Some remained on Expedition Island from the 18th June until the 13th August, while the launch and pinnace were carrying the goods up to Shupanga and Senna. The country was in a state of war, our luggage was in danger, and several of our party were exposed to disease from inactivity in the malaria of the Delta. Here some had their first introduction to African life, and African fever. Those alone were safe who were actively employed with the vessels, and of course, remembering the perilous position of their fellows, they strained every nerve to finish the work and take them away. ‘This was the time, too, for the feeble-minded to make a demand for their Sundays of rest and full meal-hours, which even our crew of twelve Kroomen, though tampered with, had more sense and good- feeling than to endorse. It is a pity that some people cannot see that the true and honest discharge of the common duties of every-day life is Divine Service. The weather was delightful, with only an occasional shower or cold foggy morning. Those who remained on the island made the most of their time, taking meteorological and magnetical observations, and botanizing, so far as the dried vegetation would allow. No one seemed to place much reliance on the “official report” of two naval commanders, - who now, after about a fortnight’s experience in the Zambesi, solemnly declared it to be “ more like an inland-sea than a river, with a climate like that of Italy, and infinitely more healthy than any river on the West Coast:”’ but, by the leader’s advice, each began to examine and to record his observations for himself, and did not take even his chief’s previous experience as infallible. Large columns of smoke rose daily from different points of the horizon, showing that the natives were burning off the 24 BURNING OFF THE GRASS. Cuap. I. immense crops of tall grass, here a nuisance, however valuable elsewhere. A white cloud was often observed to rest on the head of the column, as if a current of hot damp air was sent up by the heat of the flames and its moisture was condensed at the top. ain did not follow, though theorists have imagined that in such cases it ought. Large game, buffaloes, and zebras, were abundant abreast the island, but no men could be seen. On the mainland, over on the right bank of the river, we were amused by the eccentric gyrations and evolutions of flocks of small seed- eating birds, who in thei flight wheeled into compact columns with such military precision as to give us the impression that they must be guided by a leader, and all directed by the same signal. Several other kinds of small birds now go in flocks, and among others the large Senegal swallow. The presence of this bird, being clearly in a state of migration from the north, while the common swallow of the country, and the brown kite are away beyond the equator, leads to the conjecture that there may be a double migration, namely, of birds from torrid climates to the more temperate, as this now is, as well as from severe winters to sunny regions; but this could not be verified by such birds of passage as ourselves. On reaching Mazaro, the mouth of a narrow creek which in floods communicates with the Quillimane river, we found that the Portuguese were at war with a half-caste named Mariano alias Matakenya, from whom they had generally fled, and who, having built a stockade near the mouth of the Shire, owned all the country between that river and Mazaro. Mariano was best known by his native name Mata- kenya, which in their tongue means “trembling,” or quiver- ing as trees do in a storm. He was a keen slaye-hunter, and Cuap. I, ATROCITIES OF MARIANO. 25 kept a large number of men, well armed with muskets. It is an entire mistake to suppose that the slave-trade is one of buying and selling alone ; or that engagements can be made with labourers in Africa as they are in India; Mariano, like other Portuguese, had no labour to spare. He had been in the habit of sending out armed parties on slave hunting- forays among the helpless tribes to the north-east, and carrying down the kidnapped victims in chains to Quilli- mane, where they were sold by his brother-in-law Cruz Coimbra, and shipped as ‘‘ Free emigrants” to the French island of Bourbon. So long as his robberies and murders were restricted to the natives at a distance, the authorities did not interfere; but his men, trained to deeds of violence and bloodshed in their slave forays, naturally began to practise on the people nearer at hand, though belonging to the Portuguese, and even in the village of Senna, under the guns of the fort. A gentleman of the highest standing told us that, while at dinner with his family, it was no un- common event for a slave to rush into the room pursued by one of Mariano’s men with spear in hand to murder him. The atrocities of this villain, aptly termed by the late governor of Quillimane a “notorious robber and murderer,” became at length intolerable. All the Portuguese spoke of him as a rare monster of inhumanity. It is unaccountable why half-castes, such as he, are so much more cruel than the Portuguese, but such is undoubtedly the case. It was asserted that one of his favourite modes of creating an impression in the country, and making his name dreaded, was to spear his captives with his own hands. On one occasion he is reported to have thus killed forty poor wretches placed in a row before him. We did not at first credit these statements, and thought that they were merely 26 CONTACT WITH THE “ REBELS,” Cuar. I. exaggerations of the incensed Portuguese, who naturally enough were exasperated with him for stopping their trade, and harbouring their runaway slaves; but we learned after- wards from the natives, that the accounts given us by the Portuguese had not exceeded the truth; and that Mariano was quite as great a ruffian as they had described him. One expects slave-owners to treat their human chattels as well as men do other animals of value, but the slave-trade seems always to engender an unreasoning ferocity, if not bloodthirstiness. War was declared against Mariano, and a force sent to take him; he resisted for a time; but seeing that he was likely to get the worst of it, and knowing that the Portuguese gover- nors have small salaries, and are therefore “disposed to be reasonable,” he went down to Quillimane to “ arrange” with the Governor, as it is termed here; but Colonel da Silva put him in prison, and then sent him for trial to Mosambique. When we came into the country, his people were fighting under his brother Bonga. The war had lasted six months and stopped all trade on the river during that period. On the 15th June we first came into contact with the “rebels.” They appeared as a crowd of well-armed and fantastically- dressed people under the trees at Mazaro. On explaining that we were English, some at once came on board and called to those on shore to lay aside their arms. On landing among them we saw that many had the branded marks of slaves on their chests, but they warmly approved our objects, and knew well the distinctive character of our nation on the slave question. The shout at our departure contrasted strongly with the suspicious questioning on our approach. Henceforth we were recognised as friends by both parties. At a later period we were taking in wood within a mile of Cuar. I. FIGHT BETWEEN NATIVES AND PORTUGUESE. 27 the scene of action, but a dense fog prevented our hearing the noise of a battle at Mazaro; and on arriving there, imme- diately after, many natives and Portuguese appeared on the bank. Dr. Livingstone, landing to salute some of his old friends among the latter, found himself in the sickening smell, and among the mutilated bodies of the slain; he was requested to take the Governor, who was very ill of fever, across to Shupanga, and just as he gave his assent, the rebels renewed the fight, and the balls began to whistle about in all directions. After trying in vain to get some one to assist the Governor down to the steamer, and unwilling to leave him in such danger, as the officer sent to bring our Kroomen did not appear, he went into the hut, and dragged along his Excellency to the ship. He was a very tall man, and as he swayed hither and thither from weakness, weighing down Dr. Livingstone, it must have appeared like one drunken man helping another. Some of the Portuguese white soldiers stood fighting with great bravery against the enemy in front, while a few were coolly shooting at their own slaves for fleemg into the river behind. The rebels soon retired, and the Portuguese escaped to a sandbank in the Zambesi, and thence to an island opposite Shupanga, where they lay for some weeks, looking at the rebels on the mainland opposite. This state of imactivity on the part of the Portuguese could not well be helped, as they had expended all their am- munition and were waiting anxiously for supplies; hoping, no doubt, sincerely that the enemy might not hear that their powder had failed. Luckily their hopes were not disappointed ; the rebels waited until a supply came, and were then repulsed after three-and-a-half hours’ hard fighting. Two months afterwards Mariano’s stockade was burned, 28 UNINTERESTING SCENERY. Cuap. I. the garrison having fled in a panic; and as Bonga declared that he did not wish to fight with this Governor, with whom he had no quarrel, the war soon came to an end. His Excellency meanwhile, being a disciple of Raspail, had taken nothing for the fever but a little camphor, and after he was taken to Shupanga became comatose. More potent remedies were administered to him, to his intense disgust, and he soon recovered. The Colonel in attendance, whom he never afterwards forgave, encouraged the treat- ment, “Give what is right; never mind him; he is very (muito) impertinent : 99 and all night long, with every draught of water the Colonel gave a quantity of quinine: the con- sequence was, next morning the patient was cinchonized and better. The sketch opposite represents the scene of action, and is interesting in an historical point of view, because the opening in which a large old canoe, with a hole in its bottom, is seen lying on its side, is the mouth of the creek Mutu, which in 1861 appeared in a map published by the Portu- euese “ Minister of Marine and the Colonies” as that through which the chief portion of the Zambesi, here about a mile wide, flowed to Quillimane. In reality this creek, eight or ten yards wide, is filled with grass, and its bed is six feet or more above the level of the Zambesi. The side of the creek opposite to the canoe is seen in the right of the picture, and sloping down from the bed to one of the dead bodies, may be marked the successive heights at which the water of the main stream stood from flood time in March to its medium height in June. For sixty or seventy miles before reaching Mazaro, the scenery is tame and uninteresting. On either hand is a dreary uninhabited expanse, of the same level grassy plains, with merely a few trees to relieve the painful monotony. ‘TONVLSIC THLE NI SIAAAN ANV ASAANALUYOd AO LHDIA—'OUVZVN AO AMAIA HM IAL Cuap. I. BIRDS AND BEASTS ON RIVER. 29 The round green top of the stately palm-tree looks at a distance, when its grey trunk cannot be seen, as thouch hune in mid-air. Many flocks of busy sandmartins, which here, and as far south as the Orange River, do not migrate, have perforated the banks two or three feet horizontally, in order to place their nests at the ends, and are now chasing on rest- less wing the myriads of tropical insects. ‘The broad river has many low islands, on which are seen various kinds of waterfowl, such as geese, spoonbills, herons, and flamingoes. Repulsive crocodiles, as with open jaws they sleep and bask in the sun on the low banks, soon catch the sound of the revolving paddles and glide quietly into the stream. The hippopotamus, haying selected some still reach of the river to spend the day, rises from the bottom, where he has been enjoying his morning bath after the labours of the night on shore, blows a puff of spray out of his nostrils, shakes the water out of his ears, puts his enormous snout up straight and yawns, sounding a loud alarm to the rest of the herd, with notes as of a monster bassoon. As we approach Mazaro the scenery improves. We see the well-wooded Shupanga ridge stretching to the left, and in front blue hills rise dimly far in the distance. There is no trade whatever on the Zambesi below Mazaro. All the merchandise of Senna and Tette is brought to that point in large canoes, and thence carried six miles across the country on men’s heads to be reshipped on a small stream that flows into the Kwakwa, or Quillimane river, which is entirely distinct from the Zambesi. Only on rare occasions and during the highest floods can canoes pass from the Zambesi to the Quillimane river through the narrow natural canal Mutu. The natives of Maruru or the country around Mazaro, the word Mazaro meaning the “mouth of the creek” 30 BURDEN OF TRIBUTE. Car. I. Mutu, have a bad name among the Portuguese; they are said to be expert thieves, and the merchants sometimes suffer from their adroitness while the goods are in transit from one river to the other. In general they are trained canoe-men, and man many of the canoes that ply thence to Senna and Tette; their pay is small, and, not trusting the traders, they must always have it before they start. Africans being prone to assign plausible reasons for their conduct, like white men in more enlightened lands, it is possible they may be goodhumouredly giving their reason for insisting on being invariably paid in advance in the words of their favourite canoe-song, “ Uachingere, Uachingere Kale,” “You cheated me of old;” or, “Thou art slippery, slippery truly.” The Landeens or Zulus are lords of the right bank of the Zambesi; and the Portuguese, by paying this fighting tribe a pretty heavy annual tribute, practically admit this. Regularly every year come the Zulus in force to Senna and Shupanga for their accustomed tribute. The few wealthy merchants of Senna groan under the burden, for it falls chiefly on them. They submit to pay annually 200 pieces of cloth, of sixteen yards each, besides beads and brass wire, knowing that refusal involves war, which might end in the loss of all they possess. The Zulus appear to keep as sharp a lock-out on the Senna and Shupanga people as ever landlord did on tenant; the more they cultivate, the more tribute they have to pay. On asking some of them why ‘they did not endeavour to raise certain highly profitable products, we were answered, “ What’s the use of our cultivating any more than we do? the Landeens would only come down on us for more tribute.” In the forests of Shupanga the Mokundu-kundu tree * hey aT | i ' ae nl Meal PANY yy wy!) Wp DANCE OF LANDEENS, OR ZULUS, ARRIVED AT SHUPANGA TO LIFT THE ANNUAL TRIBUTE OF THE PORTUGUESE. Wb Ay | ae aE de Zz SW, NN int RC Eta fe iy Me : Ni R sail ‘ 1 ! ! Nat é | | | Pifaaet itl | ARTA \ eye, , Wie ie s) Yl Out ‘ { f | tC Rosy intl i Wi SF) ARR Hi x f ml ul i SiH SAG ii ‘ \ ad Me Ss iii Ne ht wh S COV HIS Ca NI: | S 5 i THE GRAVE OF MRS. LIVINGSTONE UNDER THE BAOBAB TREE, NEAR TO SHUPANGA HOUSE. Cuap. I. SHUPANGA. ol abounds; its bright yellow wood makes good boat-masts, and yields a strong bitter medicine for fever; the Gunda-tree attains to an immense size; its timber is hard, rather cross- grained, with masses of silica deposited in its substance ; the large canoes, capable of carrying three or four tons, are made of its wood. For permission to cut these trees, a Por- tuguese gentleman of Quillimane was paying the Zulus, in 1858, two hundred dollars a year, and his successor now pays three hundred. At Shupanga, a one-storied stone house stands on the prettiest site on the river. In front a sloping lawn, with a fine mango orchard at its southern end, leads down to the broad Zambesi, whose green islands repose on the sunny bosom of the tranquil waters. Beyond, northwards, lie vast fields and forests of palms and tropical trees, with the massive mountain of Morambala towering amidst the white clouds ; and further away more distant hills appear m the blue horizon. This beautifully situated house possesses a melancholy interest from haying been associated in a most mournful manner with the history of two English expedi- tions. Here, in 1826, poor Kirkpatrick, of Captain Owen’s Surveying Expedition, died of fever; and here, in 1862, died, of the same fatal disease, the beloved wife of Dr. Livingstone. A hundred yards east of the house, under a large Baobab- tree, far from their native land, both are buried. The Shupanga-house was the head-quarters of the Governor during the Mariano war. He told us that the province of Mosambique costs the Home Government between 50002. and 6000/7. annually, and Hast Africa yields no reward in return to the mother country. We met there several other influen- tial Portuguese. All seemed friendly, and expressed their willingness to assist the expedition in every way in their power ; 32 SERVICES OF DR. KIRK. Cuap. I. and better still, Colonel Nunes and Major Sicard put their good-will into action, by cutting wood for the steamer and sending men to help in unloading. It was observable that not one of them knew anything about the Kongone Mouth; all thought that we had come in by the “ Barra Catrina,” or East Luabo.* Dr. Kirk remained here a few weeks; and, besides exploring a small lake twenty miles to the south-west, had the sole medical care of the sick and wounded soldiers, for which valuable services he received the thanks of the Portuguese Government. We wooded up at this place with African ebony or black wood, and lignum vite; the latter tree attains an immense size, sometimes as much as four feet in diameter ; our engineer, knowing what ebony and lignum vite cost at home, said it made his heart sore to burn woods so valuable. Though botanically different, they are extremely alike; the black wood as grown in some districts is superior, and the lignum vite inferior in quality, to these timbers brought from other countries. Caoutchouc, or India-rubber, is found in abundance inland from Shupanga-house, and calumba-root is plentiful in the district ; indigo, in quantities, propagates itself close to the banks of the river, and was probably at some time cultivated, for manufactured indigo was once exported. The India-rubber is made into balls for a game resembling “fives,” and calumba-root is said to be used as a mordant for certain colours, but not as a dye itself. were washed away on one side and deposited on the other. by these insects.” 'The reddish ant, in the west called drivers, crossed our path daily, in solid columns an inch wide, and never did the pugnacity of either man or beast exceed theirs. It is a sufficient cause of war if you only approach them, even by accident. Some turn out of the ranks and stand with open mandibles, or, charging with extended jaws, bite with savage ferocity. When hunting, we lighted among them Cuar, IX. MONKEYS RESPECTED. 1 too often; while we were intent on the game, and with- out a thought of ants, they quietly covered us from head to foot, then all began to bite at the same instant; seizing a piece of the skin with their powerful pincers, they twisted themselves round with it, as if determined to tear it out. Their bites are so terribly sharp that the bravest must run, and then strip to pick off those that still cling with their hooked jaws, as with steel forceps. This kind abounds in damp places, and is usually met with on the banks of streams. We have not heard of their actually killing any animal except the Python, and that only when gorged and quite lethargic, but they soon clear away any dead animal matter; this appears to be their principal food, and their use in the economy of nature is clearly im the scavenger line. We started from the Sinjére on the 12th of June, our men carrying with them bundles of hippopotamus meat for sale, and for future use. We rested for breakfast opposite the Kakolole dyke, which confines the channel, west of the Manyerére mountain. A rogue monkey, the largest by far that we ever saw, and very fat and tame, walked off leisurely from a garden as we approached. The monkey is a sacred animal in this region, and is never molested or killed, because the people believe devoutly that the souls of their ancestors now occupy these degraded forms, and anticipate that they themselves must, sooner or later, be transformed in like manner; a future as cheerless for the black, as the spirit-rapper’s heaven is for the whites. The gardens are separated from each other by a siigle row of small stones, a few handfuls of grass, or a slight furrow made by the hoe. Some are enclosed by a reed fence of the flimsiest construction, yet sufficient to keep out the ever wary 192 SALT-MAKING—MOUNTAINS. Cuap. IX- hippopotamus, who dreads a trap. His extreme caution is taken advantage of by the women, who hang, as a minia- ture trap-beam, a kigelia fruit with a bit of stick in the end. This protects the maize, of which he is excessively fond. The women are accustomed to transact business for them- selves. They accompany the men into camp, sell their own wares, and appear to be both fair traders, and modest sensible persons. Elsewhere they bring things for sale on their heads, and, kneeling at a respectful distance, wait till their husbands or fathers, who have gone forward, choose to return, and to take their goods, and barter for them. Perhaps in this parti- cular, the women here occupy the golden mean between the Manganja hill-tribes and the Jaggas of the north, who live on the mountain summits near Kilimanjaro. It is said that at the latter place the women do ail the trading, have regular markets, and will on no account allow a man to enter the market-place. The quantity of hippopotamus meat eaten by our men made some of them ill, and our marches were necessarily short. After three hours’ travel on the 13th, we spent the remainder of the day at the village of Chasiribera, on a rivulet flowing through a beautiful valley to the north, which is bounded by magnificent mountain-ranges. Pinkwe, or Mbingwe, otherwise Moeu, forms the south-eastern angle of the range. On the 16th June we were at the flourish- ing village of Senga, under the headman Manyame, which lies at the foot of the mount Motemwa. Nearly all the mountains in this country are covered with open forest and grass, in colour, according to the season, green or yellow. Many are between 2000 and 3000 feet high, with the sky line fringed with trees; the rocks show just suffi- Cuap. IX. CHIKWANITSELA. 193 ciently for one to observe their stratification, or their granitic form, and though not covered with dense masses of climbing plants, like those in moister eastern climates, there is still the idea conveyed that most of the steep sides are fertile, and none give the impression of that barrenness which, in northern mountains, suggests the idea, that the bones of the world are sticking through its skin. The villagers reported that we were on the footsteps of a Portuguese half-caste, who, at Senga, lately tried to purchase ivory, but, in consequence of his having mur- dered a Chief near Zumbo and twenty of his men, the people declined to trade with him. He threatened to take the ivory by force, if they would not sell it; but that same night the ivory and the women were spirited out of the village, and only a large body of armed men remained. The trader, fearing that he might come off second best if it came to blows, immediately departed. Chikwanitsela, or Se- kuanangila is the paramount Chief of some fifty miles of the northern bank of the Zambesi in this locality. He lives on the opposite, or southern side, and there his territory is still more extensive. We sent him a present from Senga, and were informed by a messenger next morning that he had a cough and could not come over to see us. “And has his present a cough too,” remarked one of our party, “that it does not come to us? Is this the way your Chief treats strangers, receives their present, and sends them no food in return?” Our men thought Chikwanitsela an uncommonly stingy fellow ; but, as it was possible that some of them might yet wish to return this way, they did not like to scold him more than this, which was sufficiently to the point. Men and women were busily engaged in preparing the ground for the November planting. Large game was abun- O 194 AFFLICTIONS OF BEASTS. Cuar. IX. dant; herds of elephants and buffaloes came down to the river in the night, but were a long way off by daylight. They soon adopt this habit in places where they are hunted. The plains we travel over are constantly varying in breadth, according as the furrowed and wooded hills approach or recede from the river. On the southern side we see the hill Bunewe, and the long, level, wooded ridge Nyangombe, the first of a series bending from the 8. E. to the N.W. past the Zambesi. We shot an old pallah on the 16th, and found that the poor animal had been visited with more than the usual share of animal afflictions. He was stoner blind in both eyes, had several tumours, and a broken leg, which showed no symptoms of ever having begun to heal. Wild animals sometimes suffer a great deal from disease, and wearily drag on a miserable existence before relieved of it by some ravenous beast. Once we drove off a maneless lion and lioness from a dead buffalo, which had been in the last stage of a decline. They had watched him staggering to the river to quench his thirst, and sprang on him as he was crawling up the bank. One had caught him by the throat, and the other by his high projecting backbone, which was broken by the lion’s powerful fangs. The struggle, if any, must have been short. They had only eaten the intestines when we frightened them off. It is curious that this is the part that wild animals always begin with, and that it is also the first choice of our men. Were it not a wise arrangement that only the strongest males should continue the breed, one could hardly help pitying the solitary buffalo expelled from the herd for some physical blemish, or on account of the weakness of approaching old age. Banished from the softening influences of female society, he naturally becomes morose and savage; the necessary watchfulness against enemies Cuap. IX. MPENDE. 195 is now neyer shared by others; disgusted, he passes into a state of chronic war with all who enjoy life, and the sooner after his expulsion that he fills the lion’s or the wild-dog’s maw, the better for himself and for the peace of the country. Though we are not disposed to be didactic, the idea of a crusty old bachelor or of a cantankerous husband will rise up in our minds; to this human buffalo, at whose approach wife and children, or poor relations, hold their breath with awe, we cannot extend one grain of pity; because it is not infirmity of temper this brute can plead, seeing that, when in the herd with his equals, he is invariably polite, and only exercises his tyranny when with those who cannot thrash him into decency. We encamped on the 20th of June at a spot, where Dr. Livingstone, on his journey from the West to the Hast Coast, was formerly menaced by a Chief named Mpende. No offence had been committed against him, but he had firearms, and, with the express object of showing his power, he threatened to attack the strangers. Mpende’s counsellors having, however, found out that Dr. Livingstone belonged to a tribe of whom they had heard that “they loved the black man and did not make slaves,” his conduct at once changed from enmity to kindness, and, as the place was one well selected for defence, it was per- haps quite as well for Mpende that he decided as he did. Three of his counsellors now visited us, and we gave them a handsome present for their Chief, who came himself next morning and made us a present of a goat, a basket of boiled maize, and another of vetches. A few miles above this, the headman, Chilondo of Nyamasusa, apologized for not formerly lending us canoes. “He was absent, and his children were to blame for not telling him when the Doctor passed; he did not refuse the canoes.” The sight of our men, now armed with muskets, had a great effect. Without any bullying, firearms 0 2 196 MONAHENG MURDERED. Cuap. 1X, command respect, and lead men to be reasonable who might otherwise feel disposed to be troublesome. Nothing, however, our fracas with Mpende excepted, could be more peaceful than our passage through this tract of country in 1856. We then had nothing to excite the cupidity of the people, and the men maintained themselves, either by selling elephant’s meat, or by exhibiting feats of foreign dancing. Most of the people were very generous and friendly ; but the Banyai, nearer to Tette than this, stopped our march with a threatening war- dance. One of our party, terrified at this, ran away, as we thought, insane, and could not, after a painful search of three days, be found. The Banyai, evidently touched by our distress, allowed us to proceed. Through a man we left on an island a little below Mpende’s, we subsequently learned that poor Monaheng had fled thither and had been murdered by the headman for no reason except that he was defenceless. This headman had since become odious to his countrymen, and had been put to death by them. Our path leads frequently through vast expanses of apparently solitary scenery ; a strange stillness pervades the air; no sound is heard from bird or beast or living thing ; no village is near; the air is still, and earth and sky have sunk into a deep, sultry repose, and like a lonely ship on the de- sert sea is the long winding line of weary travellers on the hot, glaring plain. We discover that we are not alone in the wilderness ; other living forms are round about us, with curious eyes on all our movements. As we enter a piece of wood- land, an unexpected herd of pallahs, or waterbucks, suddenly appears, standing as quiet and still, as if constituting a part of the landscape ; or, we pass a clump of thick thorns, and see through the bushes the dim phantom-like forms of buffaloes, their heads lowered, gazing at us with fierce untameable Cuap. IX, PANGOLA. La eyes. Again a sharp turn brings us upon a native, who has seen us from afar, and comes with noiseless footsteps to get a nearer view. On the 23rd of June we entered Pangola’s principal village, which is upwards ofa mile from the river. The ruins of a mud wall showed that a rude attempt had been made to imitate the Portuguese style of building. We established ourselves under a stately wild fig-tree, round whose trunk witchcraft medicine had been tied, to protect from thieves the honey of the wild bees, which had their hive in one of the limbs. This is a common device. The charm, or the medicine, is purchased of the dice doctors, and consists of a strip of palm- leaf smeared with something, and adorned with a few bits of grass, wood, or roots. It is tied round the tree, and is believed to have the power of inflicting disease and death on the thief who climbs over it. Superstition is thus not without its uses in certain states of society; it prevents many crimes and misdemeanors, which would occur, but for the salutary fear that it produces. Pangola arrived, tipsy and talkative-—* We are friends, we are great friends ; 1 have brought you a basket of green maize —here itis!” We thanked him, and handed him two fathoms of cotton cloth, four times the market-value of his present. No, he would not take so small a present; he wanted a double- barrelled rifle—one of Dixon’s best. ‘We are friends, you know; we are all friends together.” But although we were will- ing to admit that, we could not give him our best rifle, so he went off in high dudgeon. Early next morning, as we were commencing Divine service, Pangola returned, sober. We explained to him that we wished to worship God, and invited him to remain; he seemed frightened and retired: but after service he again importuned us for the rifle. It was of no use 198 FATE OF AFRICAN EMPIRES. Cuap. IX. telling him that we had a long journey before us, and needed it to kill game for ourselves.—* He too must obtain meat for himself and people, for they sometimes suffered from hunger.” He then got sulky, and his people refused to sell food except at extravagant prices. Knowing that we had nothing to eat, they felt sure of starving us into compliance. But two of our young men, having gone off at sunrise, shot a fine waterbuck, and down came the provision market to the lowest figure; they even became eager to sell, but our men were angry with them for trying compulsion, and would not buy. Black greed had outwitted itself, as happens often with white cupidity ; and not only here did the traits of Africans remind us of Anglo- Saxons elsewhere: the notoriously ready world-wide dispo- sition to take an unfair advantage of a man’s necessities shows that the same mean motives are pretty widely dif- fused among all races. It may not be granted that the same blood flows in all veins, or that all have descended from the same stock ; but the traveller has no doubt that, practically, the white rogue and black are men and brothers. Pangola is the child or vassal of Mpende. Sandia and Mpende are the only independent chiefs from Kebrabasa to Zumbo, and belong to the tribe Manganja. The country north of the mountains here in sight from the Zambesi is called Senga, and its inhabitants Asenga, or Basenga, but all appear to be of the same family as the rest of the Man- ganja and Maravi. Formerly all the Manganja were united under the government of their great Chief, Undi, whose Empire extended from Lake Shirwa to the River Loangwa; but after Undi’s death it fell to pieces, and a large portion of it on the Zambesi was absorbed by their powerful southern neighbours the Banyai. This has been the inevitable fate of every African Empire from time imme- Cuap. IX, AFRICAN INDUSTRY, i? morial. A Chief of more than ordinary ability arises and, subduing all his less powerful neighbours, founds a kingdom, which he governs more or less wisely till he dies. His successor not having the talents of the conqueror cannot retain the dominion, and some of the abler under-chiefs set up for themselves, and, in a few years, the remembrance only of the Empire remains. This, which may be considered as the normal state of African society, gives rise to frequent and desolating wars, and the people long in vain for a power able to make all dwell in peace. In this light, a European colony would be considered by the natives as an inestimable boon to intertropical Africa. Thousands of industrious natives would gladly settle round it, and engage in that peaceful pursuit of agriculture and trade of which they are so fond, and, undis- tracted by wars or rumours of wars, might listen to the purifying and ennobling truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Manganja on the Zambesi, like their countrymen on the Shire, are fond of agriculture; and, in addition to the usual yarieties of food, cultivate tobacco and cotton in quantities more than equal to their wants. To the question, “ Would they work for Europeans?” an affirmative answer may be given, if the Huropeans belong to the class which can pay a reasonable price for labour, and not to that of adventurers who want employment for themselves. All were particularly well clothed from Sandia’s to Pangola’s; and it was noticed that all the cloth was of native manufacture, the product of their own looms. In Senga a great deal of iron is obtained from the ore and manufactured very cleverly. As is customary when a party of armed strangers visits the village, Pangola took the precaution of sleeping in one of the outlying hamlets. No one ever knows, or at any rate will tell, where the Chief sleeps. He came not next morn- 200 DRUNKEN FERRY-MEN. CHAP, Ie ing, so we went on our way; but in a few moments we saw the rifle-loving Chief approaching with some armed men. Before meeting us, he left the path and drew up his “ follow- ing” under a tree, expecting us to halt, and give him a chance of bothering us again; but, having already had enough of that, we held right on: he seemed dumb- foundered, and could hardly believe his own eyes. For a few seconds he was speechless, but at last recovered so far as to be able to say, “ You are passing Pangola. Do not you see Pangola?” Mbia was just going by at the time with the donkey, and, proud of every opportunity of airing his small stock of English, shouted in reply, “All right! then get on.” “Click, click, click.” This fellow, Pangola, would have annoyed and harassed a trader until his unrea- sonable demands were complied with. On the 26th June we breakfasted at Zumbo, on the left bank of the Loangwa, near the ruins of some ancient Portuguese houses. The Loangwa was too deep to be forded, and there were no canoes on our side. Seeing two small ones on the opposite shore, near a few recently-erected huts of two half-castes from Tette, we halted for the ferry-men to come over. From their movements it was evident that they were in a state of rollicking drunkenness. Having a waterproof cloak, which could be inflated into a tiny boat, we sent Mantlanyane across init. Three half-intoxicated slaves then brought us the shaky canoes, which we lashed together and manned with our own canoe-men. Five men were all that we could carry over at atime; and after four trips had been made the slaves began to clamour for drink; not receiving any, as we had none to give, they grew more insolent, and declared that not another man should cross that day. Sininyane was remonstrating with them, when a loaded musket was pre- Cuap. IX. RESULTS OF NO GOVERNMENT. 201 sented at him by one of the trio. In an instant the gun was out of the rascal’s hands, a rattling shower of blows fell on his back, and he took an involuntary header into the river. He crawled up the bank asad and sober man, and all three at once tumbled from the height of saucy swagger to a low depth of slavish abjectness. The musket was found to have an enormous charge, and might have blown our man to pieces, but for the promptitude with which his companions administered justice im a lawless land. We were all ferried safely across by 8 o’clock in the evening. In illustration of what takes place where no govern- ment, or law exists, the two half-castes, to whom these men belonged, left Tette, with four hundred slaves, armed with the old Sepoy Brown Bess, to hunt elephants and trade i ivory. On our way up, we heard from natives of their lawless deeds, and again, on our way down, from several, who had been eyewitnesses of the principal crime, and all reports substantially agreed. ‘The story isasad one. After the traders reached Zumbo, one of them, called by the natives Sequasha, entered into a plot with the disaffected headman, Namakusuru, to kill his Chief, Mpangwe, in order that Nama- kusuru might seize upon the chieftainship; and for the murder of Mpangwe, the trader agreed to receive ten large tusks of ivory. Sequasha, with a picked party of armed slaves, went to visit Mpangwe, who received him kindly, and treated him with all the honour and hospitality usually shown to distin- suished strangers, and the women busied themselves in cook- ing the best of their provisions for the repast to be set before him. Of this, and also of the beer, the half-caste partool heartily. Mpangwe was then asked by Sequasha to allow his men to fire their guns in amusement. Innocent of any suspi- cion of treachery, and anxious to hear the report of firearms, 202 SEQUASHA. Cuap. IX. Mpangwe at once gave his consent; and the slaves rose and poured a murderous volley into the merry group of unsuspect- ing spectators, instantly killing the chief and twenty of his people. The survivors fledin horror. The children and young women were seized as slaves, and the village sacked. Sequasha sent the message to Namakusuru: “I have killed the lion that troubled you, come and let us talk over the matter.” He came, and brought the ivory; “No,” said the half-caste, “let us divide the land:” and he took the larger share for himself, and compelled the would-be usurper to deliver up his bracelets, in token of subjection on becoming the child or vassal of Sequasha. These were sent in triumph to the authorities at Tette. The Governor of Quillimane had told us that he had received orders from Lisbon to take advantage of our passing to re-establish Zumbo ; and, accordingly, these traders had built a small stockade on the rich plain of the right bank of Loangwa, a mile above the site of the ancient mission church of Zumbo, as part of the royal policy. The bloodshed was quite unnecessary, because, the land at Zumbo having of old been purchased, the natives would have always of their own accord acknowledged the right thus acquired ; they pointed it out to Dr. Livingstone in 1856 that, though they were cultivating it, it was not theirs, but white man’s land. Sequasha and his mate had left their ivory in charge of some of their slaves, who, in the absence of their masters, were now haying a gay time of it, and getting drunk every day with the produce of the sacked villages. The head slave came and begged for the musket of the delinquent ferry- man, which was returned. He thought his master did per- fectly right to kill Mpangwe, when asked to do it for the fee of ten tusks, and he even justified it thus: “If a man invites you to eat, will you not partake ?” Cuap. X. CHURCH IN RUINS. : 203 CHAPTER X. Beautiful situation of Zumbo— Church in ruins— Why have the Catholic Missions failed to perpetuate the Faith ?— Ma-mburuma— Anti-slavery principles, a recommendation — Jujubes — Tsetse — Dr. Kirk dangerously ill in the mountain fores:—Our men’s feats of hunting — Hyenas— Honey-guides — Instinct of, how to be accounted for, self-interest or friend- ship ?— A serpent— Mpangwe’s village deserted — Large game abundant — Difference of flavour in— Sights seen in marching — “Smokes” from grass-burnings — River Chongwe — Bazizulu and their superior cotton — Escape from rhinoceros —The wild dog — Families flitting — Tombanyama — Confluence of the Kafue. WE remained a day by the ruins of Zumbo. The early traders, guided probably by Jesuit missionaries, must have been men of taste and sagacity. They selected for their village the most charmingly picturesque site in the country, and had reason to hope that it would soon be enriched by the lucrative trade of the rivers Zambesi and Loanewa pouring into it from north and west, and by the gold and ivory of the Manica country on the south. The Portuguese of the present day have certainly reason to be proud of the enterprise of their ancestors. If ever in the Elysian fields the conversation of these ancient and honourable men, who dared so much for Christianity, turns on their African descendants, it will be difficult for them to reciprocate the feeling. The chapel, near which lies a broken church bell, commands a glorious view of the two noble rivers,—the green fields—the undulating forest—the pleasant hills, and the magnificent mountains in the distance. It is anutter ruin now, and desolation broods around. The wild bird, disturbed by the unwonted sound 204 MISSIONARY FAILURE. Car, X. of approaching footsteps, rises with a harsh scream. Thorn- vushes, marked with the ravages of white ants, rank grass with prickly barbed seeds, and noxious weeds, overrun the whole place. The foul hyena has defiled the sanctuary, and the midnight-owl has perched on its crumbling walls, to disgorge the undigested remnant of its prey. One can scarcely look without feelings of sadness on the utter desola- tion of a place where men have met to worship the Supreme Beimg, or have united in uttering the magnificent words, “Thou art the King of glory, O Christ!” and remember, that the natives of this part know nothing of His religion, not even His name; a strange superstition makes them shun this sacred place, as men do the pestilence, and they never come near it. Apart from the ruins, there is nothing to remind one that a Christian power ever had traders here ; for the natives of to-day are precisely what their fathers were, when the Portuguese first rounded the Cape. Their language, unless buried in the Vatican, is still unwritten. Not a single art, save that of distilling spirits by means of a gun-barrel, has ever been learnt from the strangers; and, if all the progeny of the whites were at once to leave the country, their only memorial would be the ruins of a few stone and mud-built walls, and that blighting relic of the slave-trade, the belief that man may sell his brother man; a belief which is not. of native origin, for it is not found except in the track of the Portuguese. | Since the early Missionaries were not wanting in either wisdom or enterprise, it would be intensely interesting to know the exact cause of their failing to perpetuate their Faith. Our observation of the operations of the systems, whether of native or of European origin, which sanction slavery, tends to prove that they only perpetuate barbarism. CHap. X. MA-MBURUMA. 203 Raids like that of Sequasha,—also of Simoens, who carried his foray up the river as far as Kariba,—and many others, have exactly the same effect as the normal native policy already mentioned: one tract of country is devastated after another, and the slave-hunter attains great wealth and influence. Pereira, the founder of Zumbo, gloried in being called “the Terror.” Ifthe scourge is not fleeced by some needy Governor, his wealth is usually scattered to the winds by the children of mixed breed who succeed him. Can it be that the Mis- sionaries of old, like many good men formerly among ourselves, tolerated this system of slave-making, which inevitably leads to warfare, and thus failed to obtain influence over the natives by not introducing another policy than that which had prevailed for ages before they came ? We continued our journey on the 28th of June. Game was extremely abundant, and there were many lions. Mbia drove one off from his feast on a wild pig, and appropriated what remained of the pork to his own use. Lions are particularly fond of the flesh of wild pigs and zebras, and contrive to kill a large number of these animals. In the afternoon we arrived at the village of the female Chief, Ma-mburuma, but she herself was now living on the oppo- site side of the river. Some of her people called, and said she had been frightened by seeing her son and other children killed by Sequasha, and had fled to the other bank; but when her heart was healed, she would return and live in her own village, and among her own people. She con- stantly inquired of the black traders, who came up the river, if they had any news of the white man who passed with the oxen. ‘He has gone down into the sea,” was their reply, “but we belong to the same people.” “Oh, no; you need not tell me that; he takes no slaves, but wishes peace : you 206 J UJUBE—TSETSE. Cuap. X. are not of his tribe.” This anti-slavery character excites such universal attention, that any Missionary, who winked at the gigantic evils involved in the slave-trade, would certainly fail to produce any good impression on the native mind. We left the river here, and proceeded up the valley which leads to the Mburuma or Mohango pass. The nights were cold, and on the 30th of June the thermometer was as low as 39° at sunrise. We passed through a village of twenty large huts, which Sequasha had attacked on his return from the murder of the Chief, Mpangwe. He caught the women and children for slaves, and carried off all the food, except a huge basket of bran, which the natives are wont to save against a time of famine. His slaves had broken all the water-pots and the millstones for grinding meal. The buaze-trees and bamboos are now seen on the hills; but the jujube or zisyphus, which has evidently been imtro- duced from India, extends no further up the river. We had been eating this fruit, which, having somewhat the taste of apples, the Portuguese call Macaas, all the way from Tette; and here they were larger than usual, though imme- diately beyond they ceased to be found. No mango-tree either is to be met with beyond this point, because the Portuguese traders never established themselves anywhere beyond Zumbo. ‘T'setse flies are more numerous and troublesome than we have ever before found them. They accompany us on the march, often buzzing round our heads like a swarm of bees. They are very cunning, and when intending to bite, alight so gently that their presence is not perceived till they thrust in their lance-like proboscis. The bite is acute, but the pain is over in a moment; it is followed by a little of the dis- agreeable itching of the musquito’s bite. This fly invariably kills all domestic animals except goats and donkeys; man and CHap. X. ILLNESS OF DR. KIRK. 207 the wild animals escape. We ourselves were severely bitten on this pass, and so were our donkeys, but neither suffered from any after effects. Water is scarce in the Mburuma pass, except during the rainy season. We however halted beside some fine springs in the bed of the now dry rivulet, Podebode, which is continued down to the end of the pass, and yields water at intervals in pools. Here we remained a couple of days in consequence of the severe iilness of Dr. Kirk. He had several times been attacked by fever; and observed that when we were on the cool heights he was comfortable, but when we happened to descend from a high to a lower altitude, he felt chilly, though the temperature in the latter case was 25° higher than it was above; he had been trying different medicines of reputed efficacy with a view to ascertain whether other combinations might not be superior to the preparation we generally used ; in halting by this water, he suddenly became blind, and un- able to stand from faintness. The men, with great alacrity, prepared a grassy bed, on which we laid our companion, with the sad forebodings which only those who have tended the sick in a wild country can realize. We feared that in experimenting he had overdrugged himself; but we gave him a dose of our fever pills; on the third day he rode the one of the two donkeys that would allow itself to be mounted, and on the sixth he marched as well as any of us. This case is mentioned in order to illustrate what we have often observed, that moving the patient from place to place is most conducive to the cure; and the more pluck a man has—the less he gives in to the disease—the less likely he is to die. Supplied with water by the pools in the Podebode, we again joined the Zambesi at the confluence of the rivulet. When passing through a dry district the native hunter knows where to 208 HUNTING THE BUFFALO. CHAP expect water by the animals he sees. The presence of the gemsbuck, duiker or diver, springbucks, or elephants, is no proof that water is near ; for these animals roam over vast tracts of country, and may be met scores of miles from it. Not so, however, the zebra, pallah, buffalo, and rhinoceros ; their spoor gives assurance that water is not far off, as they never stray any distance from its neighbourhood. But when amidst the solemn stillness of the woods, the singing of joyous birds falls upon the ear, it is certain that water is close at hand. While waiting here, under a great tamarind-tree, we heard many new and pleasant songs from strange little birds, with the love-notes of pigeons, in the trees overhanging these living springs. Our men in hunting came on an immense herd of buffa- loes, quietly resting in the long dry grass, and began to blaze away furiously at the astonished animals. In the wild excitement of the hunt, which heretofore had been conducted with spears, some forgot to load with ball, and, firmg away vigorously with powder only, wondered for the moment that the buffaloes did not fall. The slayer of the young elephant, having buried his four bullets in as many buffaloes, fired three charges of number 1 shot he had for killing guinea-fowl. The quaint remarks and merriment after these little adventures seemed to the listener like the pleasant prattle of children. Mbia and Mantlanyane, however, killed one buffalo each ; both the beasts were in prime condition; the meat was like really excellent beef, with a smack of venison. A troop of hungry, howling hyenas also thought the savour tempting, as they hung round the camp at night, anxious to partake of the feast. They are, fortu- nately, arrant cowards, and never attack either men or beasts, except they can catch them asleep, sick, or at some other Cuap. X. THE HONEY-GUIDE. 209 disadvantage. With a bright fire at our feet their presence excites no uneasiness. A piece of meat hung on a tree, high enough to make him jump to reach it, and a short spear, with its handle firmly planted in the ground beneath, are used as a device to induce the hyena to commit suicide by impalement. The honey-guide is an extraordinary bird; how is it that every member of its family has learned that all men, white or black, are fond of honey? The instant the little fellow gets a glimpse of a man, he hastens to greet him with the hearty invitation to come, as Mbia translated it, to a bees’ hive, and take some honey. He flies on in the proper direction, perches on a tree, and looks back to see if you are following; then on to another and another, until he guides you to the spot. If you do not accept his first invitation he follows you with pressing importunities, quite as anxious to lure the stranger to the bees’ hive as other birds are to draw him away from their own nests. Except while on the march, our men were sure to accept the invitation, and manifested the same by a peculiar responsive whistle, meaning, as they said, “All right, go ahead; we are coming.” The bird never deceived them, butalways guided them to a hive of bees, though some had but little honey in store. Has this peculiar habit of the honey-guide its origin, as the attachment of dogs, in friendship for man, or in love for the sweet pickings of the plunder left on the ground? Self-interest aiding in pre- servation from danger seems to be the rule in most cases, as, for instance, in the bird that guards the buffalo and rhinoceres. The grass is often so tall and dense that one could go close up to these animals quite unperceived ; but the guardian bird, sitting on the beast, sees the approach of danger, flaps its wings and screams, which causes its bulky charge to rush off from a PB 210 ABUNDANCE OF GAME. CHar. X. foe he has neither seen nor heard; for his reward the vigilant little watcher has the pick of the parasites of his fat friend. In other cases a chance of escape must be given even by the animal itself to its prey; as in the rattle-snake, which, when excited to strike, cannot avoid using his rattle, any more than the cat can resist curling its tail when excited in the chase of a mouse, or the cobra can refrain from inflating the loose skin of the neck and extending it laterally, before striking its poison fangs into its victim. There were many snakes in parts of this pass; they basked in the warm sunshine, but rustled off through the leaves as we approached. We ob- served one morning a small one of a deadly poisonous species, named Kakone, on a bush by the way-side, quietly resting in a horizontal position, digesting a lizard for breakfast. Though openly in view, its colours and curves so closely resembled a small branch that some failed to see it, even after being asked if they perceived anything on the bush. Here also one of our number had a glance at another species, rarely seen, and whose swift lightning-like motion has given rise to the native proverb, that when a man sees this snake he will forthwith become a rich man. We slept near the ruined village of the murdered chief, Mpangwe, a lovely spot, with the Zambesi in front, and exten- sive gardens behind, backed by a semicircle of hills, receding up to lofty mountains. Our path kept these mountains on our right, and crossed several streamlets, which seemed to be perennial, and among others the Selole, which apparently flows past the prominent peak Chiarapela. These rivulets have often human dwellings on their banks; but the land can scarcely be said to be occupied. The number of all sorts of game increases wonderfully every day. As a speci- men of what may be met with where there are no human Cuap. X. ANNOYED WITH TSETSE. 211 habitations, and where no firearms have been introduced, we may mention what at times has actually been seen by us. On the morning of July 3rd a herd of elephants passed within fifty yards of our sleeping-place, going down to the river along the dry bed of a rivulet. Starting a few minutes before the main body, we come upon large flocks of guinea-fowl, shoot what may be wanted for dinner, or next morning’s breakfast, and leave them in the path to be picked up by the cook and his mates behind. As we proceed, francolins of three varieties run across the path, and hundreds of turtle-doves rise, with great blatter of wing, and fly off to the trees. Guinea-fowls, francolins, turtle- doves, ducks, and geese are the game birds of this region. At sunrise a herd of pallahs, standing like a flock of sheep, allow the first man of our long Indian file to approach within about fifty yards; but having meat, we let them trot off leisurely and unmolested. Soon afterwards we come upon a herd of waterbucks, which here are very much darker in colour, and drier in flesh, than the same species near the sea. They look at us and we at them; and we pass on to see a herd of doe koodoos, with a magnificently horned buck or two, hurrying off to the dry hill-sides. We have ceased shooting antelopes, as our men have been so often gorged,with meat that they have become fat and dainty. They say that they do not want more venison, it is so dry and tasteless, and ask why we do not give them shot to shoot the more savoury guinea-fowl. About eight o’clock the tsetse commence to buzz about us, and bite our hands and necks sharply. Just as we are thinking of breakfast, we meet some buffaloes grazing by the path; but they make off in a heavy gallop at the sight of man. We fire, and the foremost, badly wounded, [ee r 212 ZEBRAS— WILD PIGS. Car. X. separates from the herd, and is seen to stop amongst the trees; but, as it is a matter of great danger to follow a wounded buffalo, we hold on our way. It is this losing of wounded animals which makes firearms so an- nihilating to these beasts of the field, and will in time sweep them all away. The small Enfield bullet is worse than the old round one for this. It often goes through an animal without killing him, and he afterwards perishes, when he is of no value to man. After breakfast we draw near a pond of water, a couple of elephants stand on its bank, and, at a respectful distance behind these monarchs of the wilderness, is seen a herd of zebras, and another of waterbucks. On getting our wind the royal beasts make off at once; but the zebras remain till the foremost man is within eighty yards of them, when old and young canter gracefully away. ‘The zebra has a great deal of curiosity ; and this is often fatal to him, for he has the habit of stopping to look at the hunter. In this particular he is the exact oppo- site of the diver antelope, which rushes off like the wind, and never for a moment stops to look behind, after having once seen or smelt danger. The finest zebra of the herd is sometimes shot, our men having taken a sudden fancy to the flesh, which all declare to be the “king of good meat.” On the plains of short grass between us and the river many antelopes of different species are calmly grazing, or reposing. Wild pigs are common, and walk abroad during the day; but are so shy as seldom to allow a close approach. On taking alarm they erect their slender tails in the air, and trot off swiftly in a straight line, keeping their bodies as steady as a locomotive on a railroad. A mile beyond the pool three cow buffaloes with their calves come from the woods, and move out into the plain. wear in addition a skin cut like the "tails of the coatee formerly worn by our dragoons. The younger girls © wear the waist-belt exhibited in the Waist-belt. woodcut, ornamented with shells, and have the fringes only in front. Marauding parties of Batoka, calling themselves Makololo, have for some time had a wholesome dread of Sinamane’s “long spears.” Before going to Tette our Batoka friend, Masakasa, was one of a party that came to steal some of the young women; but Sinamane, to their utter astonishment, attacked them so furiously that the survivors barely escaped with their lives. Masakasa had to flee so fast that he threw away his shield, his spear, and his clothes, and returned home a wiser and a sadder man. CHap. XVI. SINAMANE’S PEOPLE. 317 CHAPTER XVI. Sinamane — Canoe navigation — Moemba — Water-drawing stockades — Gene- rosity of the Batoka— Purchase of a canoe — Ant-lions— Herd of Hippo- potami — Cataract doctor of Kariba — Albinos, human and hippopotamic — Meet Sequasha, not quite so black as painted — Native mode of salutation — Kariyua — Gallant conduct of the Makololo — Breakfast interrupted by Mambo Kazai— Dinner spoilt by pretended aid — Banyai— Rapids of Ke- brabasa — Dr. Kirk in danger— Sad loss of MSS., &c.— Death of one of our donkeys — Amiable squeamishness of Makololo— Dinner a la Panzo — Reach Tette 23rd Nov. — ‘“‘ Jacks of all trades ’— Imposition practised on the King of Portugal’s Colonial scheme. SINAMANE’S people cultivate large quantities of tobacco, which they manufacture into balls for the Makololo market. Twenty balls, weighing about three-quarters of a pound each, are sold for a hoe. The tobacco is planted on low moist spots on the banks of the Zambesi; and was in flower at the time we were there, in October. Sinamane’s people ap- pear to have abundance of food, and are all in good condi- tion. He could sell us only two of his canoes; but lent us three more to carry us as far as Moemba’s, where he thought others might be purchased. They were manned by his own canoe-men, who were to bring them back. ‘The river is about 250 yards wide, and flows serenely between high banks towards the North-East. Below Sinamane’s the banks are often worn down fifty feet, and composed of shingle and gravel of igneous rocks, sometimes set in a ferruginous matrix. The bottom is all gravel and shingle, how formed we cannot imagine, unless in pot-holes in the deep fissure above. The bottom above the Falls, save a few rocks close by them, is generally sandy or of soft tufa. Eyery damp spot is covered with maize, pumpkins, water- 318 SINAMANE’S CANOES. Cuap. XVI. melons, tobacco, and hemp. There is a pretty numerous Batoka population on both sides of the river. As we sailed slowly down, the people saluted us from the banks, by clapping their hands. A headman even hailed us, and brought a generous present of corn and pumpkins. Moemba owns a rich island, called Mosanga, a mile in length, on which his village stands. He has the reputation of being a brave warrior, and is certainly a great talker ; but he gave us strangers something better than a stream of words. We received a handsome present of corn, and the fattest goat we had ever seen; it resembled mutton. His people were as liberal as their Chief. They brought two large baskets of corn, and a lot of tobacco, as a sort of general contribution to the travellers. One of Sinamane’s canoe-men, after trying to get his pay, deserted here, and went back before the stipu- lated time, with the story, that the Englishmen had stolen the canoes. Shortly after sunrise next morning, Sinamane came into the village with fifty of his “long spears,” evi- dently determined to retake his property by force; he saw at a glance that his man had deceived him. Moemba rallied him for coming on a wildgoose chase. “ Here are your canoes left with me, your men have all been paid, and the Englishmen are now asking me to sell my canoes.” Sina- mane said little to us; only observing that he had been deceived by his follower. A single remark of his Chief’s caused the foolish fellow to leave suddenly, evidently much frightened and crestfallen. Sinamane -had been very kind to us, and, as he was looking on when we gave our present to Moemba, we made him also an additional offering of some beads, and parted good friends. Moemba, haying heard that we had called the people of Sinamane together to tell them about our Saviour’s mission to man, and to pray with them, associated the idea of Sunday with the meeting, Cuar. XVI. FAIR DEALING OF MOEMBA. 819 and, before anything of the sort was proposed, came and asked that he and his people might be “sundayed” as well as his neighbours; and be given a little seed wheat, and fruit-tree seeds; with which request of course we very will- ingly complied. The idea of praying direct to the Supreme Being, though not quite new to all, seems to strike their minds so forcibly that it will not be forgotten. Sinamane said that he prayed to God, Morungo, and made drink-offer- ings to him. Though he had heard of us, he had never seen white men before. When bargaining with Moemba for canoes, we were grati- fied to observe, that he wished to deal fairly and honour- ably with us. “Our price was large; but he had only two spare canoes. One was good,—he would sell that; the other he would not sell us, because it had a bad trick of capsizing, and spilling whatever was inside it into the river; he would lend us his own two large ones, until we could buy others below.” The best canoes are made from a large species of thorny acacia. These trees were now in seed; and some of the natives boiled the pods in water, and mixed the decoc- tion with their beer, to increase its intoxicating qualities. In times of great hunger the beans too are eaten, though very astringent. . We touched at Makonde’s village to buy a canoe. They were having a gay time, singing, dancing, and drinking their beer extra strong. A large potful was at once brought to us. The Chief spoke but little; his orator did the talking and trading for him, and seemed anxious to show him how cleverly he could do both. Many tiny stockades stand on the edge of the river; they are built there to protect the women from the crocodiles, while filling their waterpots. This is in advance of the Portuguese; for, although many women are annually carried off by crocodiles at Senna and 320 THE BATOKA’S GENEROSITY. Cuar. XVI. Tette, so little are the lives of these poor drawers of water valued by the masters, that they never think of erecting even a simple fence for, their protection. Dr. Livingstone tried to induce the padre of Senna to move in this matter, offering to give twenty dollars himself, if a collection should be made after mass; but the padre merely smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and did nothing. Beautiful crowned cranes, named from their note ‘ ma- wang, were seen daily, and were beginning to pair. Large flocks of spur-winged geese, or machikwe, were common. This goose is said to lay her eggs in March. We saw also pairs of Egyptian geese, as well as a few of the knob-nosed, or, as they are called in India, combed geese. When the Egyptian geese, as at the present time, have young, the goslings keep so steadily in the wake of their mother, that they look as if they were a part of her tail; and both parents, when on land, simulate lameness quite as well as our plovers, to draw off pursuers. The ostrich also adopts the lapwing fashion, but no quadrupeds do: they show fight to defend their young instead. In some places the steep banks were dotted with the holes which lead into the nests of bee-eaters. These birds came out in hundreds as we passed. When the red- breasted species settle on the trees, they give them the appearance of being covered with red foliage. Our land party came up to us on the evening of the 11th, a number of men kindly carrying their bundles for them. They had received valuable presents of food on the way. One had been given a goat, another fowls and maize. They began to believe that these Batoka “have hearts,” though at first, as those who inflict an injury usually are, they were suspicious, and blamed them for hating the Mako- lolo and killing every one they met. Marauding parties of Makololo and subject Batoka had formerly made swoops on Cuap. XVI. - WILD, HILLY COUNTRY. 321 these very villages. A few mornings since, Moloka appeared in great grief and fear: his servant Ranyeu had disappeared the day before, and he was sure that the Batoka had caught and killed him. A few minutes after, this Ranyeu arrived, with two men who had found him wandering after sunset, had given him supper and lodging, and, carrying his load for him, had brought him on to us. On the morning of the 12th October we passed through a wild, hilly country, with fine wooded scenery on both sides, but thinly inhabited. The largest trees were usually thorny acacias, of great size and beautiful forms. As we sailed by several villages without touching, the people became alarmed, and ran along the banks, spears in hand. We employed one to go forward and tell Mpande of our coming. This allayed their fears, and we went ashore, and took break- fast near the large island with two villages on it, opposite the mouth of the Zungwe, where we had left the Zambesi on our way up. Mpande was sorry that he had no canoes of his own to sell, but he would lend us two. He gave us cooked pumpkins and a water-melon. His servant had lateral cur- vature of the spine. We have often seen cases of humpback, but this was the only case of this kind of curvature we had met with. Mpande accompanied us himself in his own vessel, till we had an opportunity of purchasing a fine large canoe elsewhere. We paid what was considered a large price for it: twelve strings of blue cut glass neck-beads, an equal number of large blue ones of the size of marbles, and two yards of grey calico. Had the beads been coarser, they would have been more valued, because such were in fashion. Before concluding the bargain the owner said “his bowels yearned for his canoe, and we must give a little more to stop their yearning.” his was irresistible. The trading party of Sequasha, which we now met, had purchased ten large Y 322 ANT-LIONS. Cuap, XVI. new canoes for six strings of cheap coarse white beads each, or their equivalent, four yards of calico, and had bought for the merest trifle ivory enough to load them all. They were driving a trade in slaves also, which was some- thing new in this part of Africa, and likely soon to change the character of the inhabitants. ‘These men had been living in clover, and were uncommonly fat and plump. When sent to trade, slaves wisely never stint themselves of beer or anything else, which their master’s goods can buy. The insects called ant-lions (Myrmecoleo), were very nu- merous in sandy places under shady trees, even where but few ants were to be seen. These patient creatures lie in ambush, and have a great deal of extra labour at this season of the year. The high winds fill up their pitfalls with drift- ing sand, and no sooner haye they carefully shovelled it all out, than it is again blown in, thus keeping them constantly at work till the wind goes down. The temperature of the Zambesi had increased 10° since August, being now 80°. The air was as high as 96° after sunset; and, the vicinity of the water being the coolest part, we usually made our beds close by the river’s brink, though there in danger of crocodiles. Africa differs from India in the air always becoming cool and refreshing long before the sun returns, and there can be no doubt that we can in this country bear exposure to the sun, which would be fatal in India. It is probably owing to the greater dryness of the African atmosphere that sunstroke is so rarely met with. In twenty-two years Dr. Livingstone never met or heard of a single case, though the protective head-dresses of India are rarely seen. When the water is nearly at its lowest, we occasionally meet with small rapids which are probably not in existence during the rest of the year. Having slept opposite the rivulet Cuap. XVI. HERD OF HIPPOPOTAMI. 99 23 sh) Bume, which comes from the south, we passed the island of Nakansalo, and went down the rapids of the same name on the 17th, and came on the morning of the 19th to the more serious ones of Nakabele, at the entrance to Kariba. The Makololo guided the canoes admirably through the open- ing in the dyke. When we entered the gorge we came on upwards of thirty hippopotami: a bank near the entrance stretches two-thirds across the narrowed river, and in the still place behind it they were swimming about. Several were in the channel, and our canoe-men were afraid to venture down among them, because, as they affirm, there is commonly an illnatured one in a herd, which takes a malig- nant pleasure in upsetting canoes. Two or three boys on the rocks opposite amused themselves by throwing stones at the frightened animals, and hit several on the head. It would have been no difficult matter to have shot the whole herd. We fired a few shots to drive them off; the balls often glance off the skull, and no more harm is done than when a schoolboy gets a bloody nose; we killed one, which floated away down the rapid current, followed by a number of men on the bank. A native called to us from the left bank, and said that a man on his side knew how to pray to the Kariba gods, and advised us to hire him to pray for our safety, while we were going down the rapids, or we should certainly all be drowned. No one ever risked his life in Kariba without first paying the river-doctor, or priest, for his prayers. Our men asked if there was a cataract in front, but he declined giving any information; they were not on his side of the river ; if they would come over, then he might be able to tell them. We crossed, but he went off to the village. We then landed and walked over the hills to have a look at Kariba before trusting our canoes in it. The current was strong, and there was broken water in some places, but WZ 324 DEAD HIPPOPOTAMUS, Cuap. XVI, the channel was nearly straight, and had no cataract, so we determined to risk it. Our men visited the village while we were gone, and were treated to beer and tobacco. The priest who knows how to pray to the god that rules the rapids followed us with several of his friends, and they were rather surprised to see us pass down in safety, without the aid of his intercession, The natives who followed the dead hippopotamus caught it a couple of miles below, and, hay- ing made it fast to a rock, were sitting waiting for us on the bank beside the dead animal. As there was a consider- able current there, and the rocky banks were unfit for our beds, we took the hippopotamus in tow, telling the villagers to follow, and we would give them most of the meat. The crocodiles tugged so hard at the carcass, that we were soon obliged to cast it adrift, to float down in the current, to avoid upsetting the canoe. We had to go on so far before finding a suitable spot to spend the night in, that the natives concluded we did not intend to share the meat with them, and returned to the village. We slept two nights at the place were the hippopotamus was cut up.* The crocodiles had a busy time of it in the dark, tearing away at what was left in the river, and thrashing the water furiously with their powerful tails. The hills on both sides of Kariba are much like those of Kebrabasa, the strata tilted and twisted in every direction, with no level ground. Although the hills confine the Zambesi within a narrow channel for a number of miles, there are no rapids beyond those near the entrance. The river is smooth and apparently very deep. Only one single human being was seen in the gorge, the country being too rough for culture. Some rocks * The animal was a female, and | obtained higher up was 4 ft. 3 in, fat; it was 10 ft. in length and 4 ft. | at withers; 9 ft. 7 in. from snout to 1 in. in height. A young bull | insertion of tail. Cuar. XVI. HOSPITABLE OLD HEADMAN. 325 in the water, near the outlet of Kariba, at a distance look like a fort; and such large masses dislocated, bent, and even twisted to a remarkable degree, at once attest some tre- mendous upheaying and convulsive action of nature, which probably caused Kebrabasa, Kariba, and the Victoria Falls to assume their present forms; it took place after the for- mation of the coal, that mineral having then been tilted up. We have probably nothing equal to it m the present quiet operations of nature. On emerging we pitched our camp by a small stream, the Pendele, a few miles below the gorge. The Palabi mountain stands on the western side of the lower end of the Kariba strait; the range to which it belongs crosses the river, and runs to the south-east. Chikumbula, a hospitable old headman, under Nchomokela, the paramount Chief of a large district, whom we did not see, brought us next morn- ing a great basket of meal, and four fowls, with some beer, and a cake of salt, ‘‘to make it taste good.” Chikumbula said that the elephants plagued them, by eating up the cotton-plants; but his people seem to be well off. A few days before we came, they caught three buffaloes in pitfalls in one night, and, unable to eat them all, left one to rot. During the night the wind changed and blew from the dead buffalo to our sleeping-place; and a hnngry lion, not at all dainty in his food, stirred up the putrid mass, and growled and gloated over his feast, to the disturbance of our slumbers. Game of all kinds is in most extraordinary abun- dance, especially from this point to below the Kafue, and so it is on Moselekatse’s side, where there are no inhabitants. The drought drives all the game to the river to drink. An hour’s walk on the right bank, morning or evening, reveals a country swarming with wild animals: vast herds of pallahs, many waterbucks, koodoos, buffaloes, wild pigs, elands, zebras, 326 WHITE HIPPOPOTAMUS. Cuap. XVI. and monkeys appear ; francolins, guinea-fowls, and myriads of turtledoves attract the eye in the covers, with the fresh spoor of elephants and rhinoceroses, which had been at the river during the night. Every few miles we came upon a school of hippopotami, asleep on some shallow sandbank ; their bodies, nearly all out of the water, appeared like masses of black rock in the river. When these animals are hunted much, they become proportionably wary, but here no hunter ever troubles them, and they repose in security, always however taking the precaution of sleeping just above the deep channel, into which they can plunge when alarmed. When a shot is fired into a sleeping herd, all start up on their feet, and stare with peculiar stolid looks of hippopotamic surprise, and wait for another shot before dashing into deep water. A few miles below Chikumbula’s we saw a white hippopotamus ina herd. Our men had never seen one like it before. It was of a pinkish white, exactly like the colour of the Albino. It seemed to be the father of a number of others, for there were many marked with large light patches. The so-called white elephant, is just such a pinkish Albino as this hippopotamus. A few miles above Kariba, we observed that, in two small hamlets, many of the inhabitants had a similar affection of the skin. The same influence appeared to haye affected man and beast. A dark coloured hippopotamus stood alone, as if expelled from the herd, and bit the water, shaking his head from side to side in a most frantic manner. This biting the water with his huge jaws is the hippopotamus’ way of “slamming the door.” When the female has twins, she is said to kill one of them. We touched at the beautiful tree-covered island of Kalabi, opposite where Tuba-mokoro lectured the lion in our way up. The ancestors of the people who now inhabit this island pos- Cusp. XVI. SEQUASHA. 327 sessed cattle. The tsetse has taken possession of the country since “the beeves were lifted.” No one knows where these in- sects breed; at a certain season all disappear, and as suddenly come back, no one knows whence. The natives are such close observers of nature, that their ignorance in this case surprised us. A solitary hippopotamus had selected the little bay in which we landed, and where the women drew water, for his dwelling-place. Pretty little lizards, with light blue and red tails, run among the rocks, catching flies and other insects. These harmless—though to new-comers repulsive— creatures sometimes perform good service to man, by eating great numbers of the destructive white ants. At noon on the 24th October, we found Sequasha in a village below the Kafue, with the main body of his people. He said that 210 elephants had been killed during his trip; many of his men being excellent hunters. The numbers of animals we saw renders this possible. He reported that, after reaching the Kafue, he went northwards into the country of the Zulus, whose ancestors formerly migrated from the south and set up a sort of Republican form of government. Sequasha is the greatest Portuguese traveller we ever became acquainted with, and he boasts that he is able to speak a dozen different dialects; yet, unfortunately, he can give but a very meagre account of the countries and people he has seen, and his statements are not very much to be relied on. But considering the influences among which he has been reared, and the want of the means of education at Tette, it is a wonder that he possesses the good traits that he sometimes exhibits. Among his wares were several cheap American clocks; a useless investment rather, for a part of Africa where no one cares for the artificial measurement of time. These clocks got him into trouble among the Banyai: he set them all agoing in the presence of a Chief, who became 328 MODE OF SALUTATION. Cuar. XVI. frightened at the strange sounds they made, and looked upon them as so many witchcraft agencies at work to bring all manner of evils upon himself and his people. Sequasha, it was decided, had been guilty of a milando or crime, and he had to pay a heavy fine of cloth and beads for his exhibition. He alluded to our having heard that he had killed Mpangwe, and he denied having actually done so; but in his absence his name had got mixed up in the affair, m consequence of his slaves, while drinking beer one night with Namakusuru, the man who succeeded Mpangwe, saying that they would kill the Chief for him. His partner had not thought of this when we saw him on the way up, for he tried to excuse the murder, by saying that now they had put the right man into the Chieftainship. From Tombanyama’s onwards the Zambesi is full of islands, and many buffaloes had been attracted by the fresh young erass and reeds. One was shot on the forenoon of the 27th. Distant thunder was heard during the night, and, as usually happens in this state of the atmosphere, the meat spoiled so rapidly, that it was not fit to eat next morning. Hunger in this case, and with no choice but want, made a bitter thing sweet. The same rapid decomposition is also produced if meat is hung on a papaw-tree for four or five hours; an hour or two, however, makes it tender only. Three of Ma-mburuma’s men brought us a present of meal and fowls, as we rested on the 28th on an island near Podebode. Their mode of salutation, intended to show good manners and respectful etiquette, was to clap the thigh with one hand while approaching with the present in the other; and, on sitting down before us, to clap the hands together, then to continue clapping on the thigh when they handed the present to our men, and with both hands when they received one in return, and also on their departure, This ceremonious Cuap, XVI. THE KARIVUA RAPIDS. 329 procedure is gone through with graye composure, and mothers may be observed enjoining on their children the proper clapping of the hands, as good manners are taught among ourselves. After three hours’ sail, on the morning of the 29th, the river was narrowed again by the mountains of Mburuma, called Karivua, into one channel, and another rapid dimly appeared. “It was formed by two currents guided by rocks to the centre. In going down it, the men sent by Sekeletu behaved very nobly. The canoes entered without previous survey, and the huge jobbling waves of mid-current began at once to fill them. With great presence of mind, and without a moment’s hesitation, two men lightened each by jumping overboard; they then ordered a Batoka man to do the same, as “the white men must be saved.” “I can- not swim,” said the Batoka. “Jump out, then, and hold on to the canoe;” which he instantly did. Swimming along- side, they guided the swamping canoes down the swift current to the foot of the rapid, and then ran them ashore to bale them out. A boat could have passed down safely, but our canoes were not a foot above the water at the gunwales. Thanks to the bravery of these poor fellows, nothing was lost, although everything was well soaked. This rapid is nearly opposite the west end of the Mburuma mountains or Karivua. Another soon begins belowit. They are said to be all smoothed over when the river rises. The canoes had to be unloaded at this the worst rapid, and the goods carried about a hundred yards. By taking the-time in which a piece of stick floated past 100 feet, we found the current to be running six knots, by far the greatest velocity noted in the river. As the men were bringing the last canoe down close to the shore, the stern swung round into the current, and all except one man let go, rather than be dragged off. He 330 ARRIVE AT ZUMBO. Cuap. XVI. clung to the bow, and was swept out into the middle of the ‘stream. Having held on when he ought to have let go, he next put his life in jeopardy by letting go when he ought to have held on; and was in a few seconds swallowed up by a fearful whirlpool. His comrades launched out a canoe below, and caught him as he rose the third time to the surface, and saved him, though much exhausted and very cold. The scenery of this pass reminded us of Kebrabasa, although it is much inferior. A band of the same black shining glaze runs along the rocks about two feet from the water’s edge. There was not a blade of grass on some of the hills, it being the end of the usual dry season succeeding a previous severe drought; yet the hill-sides were dotted over with beautiful green trees. A few antelopes were seen on the rugged slopes, where some people too appeared lying down, taking a cup of beer. The Kariyua narrows are about thirty miles in length. They end at the mountain Roganora. Two rocks, twelve or fifteen feet above the water at the time we were there, may in flood be covered and dangerous. Our chief danger was the wind, a very slight ripple beg sufficient to swamp canoes. We arrived at Zumbo, at the mouth of the Loangwa, on the Ist of November. The water being scarcely up to the knee, our land party waded this river with ease. A buffalo was shot on an island opposite Pangola’s, the ball lodging in the spleen. It was found to have been wounded in the same organ previously, for an iron bullet was im- bedded in it, and the wound entirely healed. r : bet fe ’ « Carb rf, v2 i hs . v i at Ne cy ed : Ore bene Cin ‘ ” fe = why 7k ’ ' 4 BOUND BY 2"! od MOSZRE) MNA We x LONDON % TEETER oes came Conchy a 2 cos eheicaene EG 5 Sah ‘hehe. a's SEO {5% nes!