The Zambesi Expedition .....................................................................................................................................1

David Livingstone ....................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................3

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.

The name of the late Mr. Charles Livingstone takes a prominent place amongst those who acted under the

leadership of Dr. Livingstone during the adventurous sojourn of the "Zambesi Expedition" in East Africa. In

laying the result of their discoveries before the public, it was arranged that Mr. Charles Livingstone should

place his voluminous notes at the disposal of his brother: they are incorporated in the present work, but in a

It has been my object in this work to give as clear an account as I was able of tracts of country previously

unexplored, 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 slavetrade in its

inland phases; a subject on which I and my companions are the first who have had any opportunities 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

I took the "Lady Nyassa" to Bombay for the express purpose 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 slavetrading, 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, Chuma and Wakatani, to school under the eminent missionary the Rev. Dr.

Wilson, and having provided satisfactorily for the native crew, I started homewards with the three white

sailors, and reached London July 20th, 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Webb, my muchloved friends, wrote to Bombay

inviting me, in the event of my coming to England, 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 kindhearted 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 continued 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

The Government have supported the proposal of the Royal Geographical Society made by my friend Sir

Roderick Murchison, 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 Portuguese in Europe claim, and endeavour to commence that system

on the East 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 gratifying. 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 was accomplished by Speke and Grant, but rather to

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

Objects of the ExpeditionPersonal Interest shown by Naval AuthoritiesMembers of the Zambesi

When 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, however imperfectly, to elevate the position and

character of our fellowmen 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 believe 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

In order that the following narrative may be clearly understood, 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 wellwatered 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 18526, from sea to sea, across the south intertropical part of the continent, it was

found to be a wellwatered 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 geography can never be referred to without calling to mind the remarkable

hypothesis by which the distinguished President 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 persevering 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 wellwatered region resembling North America in its freshwater lakes, and India in its hot humid

The main object of this Zambesi Expedition, as our instructions 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 Central Africato improve our acquaintance with the inhabitants, 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

considerable advance might be made towards the extinction of the slavetrade, 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 accordance 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 immediate 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 favoured 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 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 warmhearted and everobliging 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 East 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

In speaking of what has been done by the Expedition, it should always be understood that Dr. Kirk, 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 untiring 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 titlepage 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 manufactures, of the articles of food, and of the different kinds of cotton from every spot we visited,

and a great variety of birds and insects; besides making meteorological observations, and affording, as our

instructions required, medical assistance 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 encouraging 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

Though collections were made, it was always distinctly understood that, however desirable these and our

explorations 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 wellregulated 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 experiments 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

It would be tiresome to enumerate in detail all the little acts which were performed by us while following out

our instructions. 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 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 companions, and the results were regularly communicated to our warm and

everready 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 Observatory. In addition to these, the altitudes, variations 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 bands. The office of "skipper," which, rather than let the Expedition come to

a stand, I undertook, required no great ability in one "not too old to learn:" it saved a salary, and, what was

much more valuable 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 anticipated intercourse

I may add that all wearisome repetitions are as much as possible avoided in the narrative; and, our

movements and operations having previously been given in a series of despatches, the attempt is now made to

give as fairly as 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 ho 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 everyday 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.

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 hospitality of our friends at Cape Town,

with the obliging attentions of Sir George Grey, and receiving on board Mr. Francis Skead, R.N., as surveyor,

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 yellowishgreen 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 wrackconsisting of reeds,

sticks, and leaves.and even under floating cuttlefish bones and Portuguese "menofwar" (Physalia),

numbers of small fish screen themselves from the eyes of birds of prey, and from the rays of the torrid sun.

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, according 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 Zambesi,

the main stream of which is called "Luabo," or "East Luabo." The "Ma Robert" and "Pearl" then went to what

The Zambesi pours its waters into the ocean by four mouths, namely, the Milambe, which is the most

westerly, the Kongone, the Luabo, and the Timbwe (or Muselo). 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 mouth 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.

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 of the delta, may have led to

their exit sideways. The Kongone is one of those lateral branches, and the safest; inasmuch as the bar has

nearly two fathoms on it at low 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

southeast, 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 west again, he can easily make out East Luabo from its great size; and Kongone follows several miles

west. East Luabo has a good but long bar, and not to be attempted unless the wind be northeast 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.

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 unmistakeable indications that

they had no very favourable opinion of white men. They were probably fugitives from Portuguese slavery. In

the grassy glades buffaloes, warthogs, and three kinds of antelope were abundant, and the latter easily

obtained. A few hours' hunting usually provided 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

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 datepalms 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 screwpalm, 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 complete the picture, and that was a 'grogshop near the church.'" We find also a few guava and limetrees

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 vocifer) sits on the top of a mangrovetree, 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 remarkable 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.

Several native huts now peep out from the bananas and cocoapalms 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; sweet potatoes, pumpkins,

tomatoes, cabbages, onions (shalots), peas, a little cotton, and sugarcane 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 sugarcane; and were it in the hands of our friends at the Cape, would

supply all Europe with sugar. The remarkably few people seen appear to be tolerably well fed, but there was a

dearth of clothing among them; all were blacks, and nearly all Portuguese "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 broadbladed paddles.

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

Of those who eventually did the work of the expedition the majority took a sober commonsense view of the

enterprise 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

Large columns of smoke rose daily from different points of the horizon, showing that the natives were

burning off the 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. Rain did not follow, though theorists have imagined that in

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 seedeating birds, who in their 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 halfcaste 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 Matakenya, which in their

tongue means "trembling," or quivering as trees do in a storm. He was a keen slavehunter, and 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 slavehunting forays among the helpless tribes to the northeast, and carrying down the kidnapped

victims in chains to Quillimane, where they were sold by his brother inlaw 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 uncommon event for a slave to rush into the room

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 halfcastes, such as he, are so much more cruel than the Portuguese, but such is

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 exaggerations of the incensed Portuguese, who naturally enough were exasperated with him

for stopping their trade, and harbouring their runaway slaves; but we learned afterwards 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 slaveowners 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 blood

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 governors 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 Mozambique. 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 wellarmed and fantasticallydressed 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. Henceforward

At a later period we were taking in wood within a mile of the scene of action, but a dense fog prevented our

hearing the noise of a battle at Mazaro; and on arriving there, immediately after, many natives and Portuguese

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 fleeing 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 inactivity on the part of the Portuguese could not well be helped, as they had expended all their

ammunition 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 threeanda half hours' hard fighting. Two months afterwards Mariano's

stockade was burned, 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 treatment.

"Give what is right; never mind him; he is very (muito) impertinent:" and all night long, with every draught

of water the Colonel gave a quantity of quinine: the consequence was, next morning the patient was

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. The round green top of the stately palmtree looks at a distance, when its grey trunk cannot be

seen, as though hung in midair. 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 restless 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, having selected

some still reach of the river to spend the day, rises out of the bottom, where he has been enjoying his morning

bath after the labours of the night on shore, blows a puff of spray from 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 we approach Mazaro the scenery improves. We see the wellwooded 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" 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 canoemen, 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 good

humouredly giving their reason for insisting on being invariably paid in advance in the words of their

favourite canoesong, "Uachingere, Uachingere Kale," "You cheated me of old;" or, "Thou art slippery

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 the 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 look 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 Mokundukundu tree abounds; its bright yellow wood makes good

boatmasts, and yields a strong bitter medicine for fever; the Gundatree attains to an immense size; its

timber is hard, rather crossgrained, 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 Portuguese

gentleman of Quillimane was paying the Zulus, in 1858, two hundred dollars a year, and his successor now

At Shupanga, a onestoried 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 palm and tropical trees,

with the massive mountain of Morambala towering amidst the white clouds; and further away more distant

hills appear in the blue horizon. This beautifully situated house possesses a melancholy interest from having

been associated in a most mournful manner with the history of two English expeditions. 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 Baobabtree,

The Shupangahouse was the headquarters of the Governor during the Mariano war. He told us that the

province of Mosambique costs the Home Government between 5000l. and 6000l. annually, and East Africa

yields no reward in return to the mother country. We met there several other influential Portuguese. All

seemed friendly, and expressed their willingness to assist the expedition in every way in their power; and

better still, Colonel Nunes and Major Sicard put their goodwill 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 southwest, 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 vitae; the latter tree

attains an immense size, sometimes as much as four feet in diameter; our engineer, knowing what ebony and

lignum vitae cost at home, said it made his heart sore to burn wood so valuable. Though botanically different,

they are extremely alike; the black wood as grown in some districts is superior, and the lignum vitae inferior

in quality, to these timbers brought from other countries. Caoutchouc, or Indiarubber, is found in abundance

inland from Shupangahouse, and calumbaroot is plentiful in the district; indigo, in quantities, propagates

itself close to the banks of the Aver, 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

We started for Tette on the 17th August, 1858; the navigation was rather difficult, the Zambesi from

Shupanga to Senna being wide and full of islands; our black pilot, John Scisssors, a serf, sometimes took the

wrong channel and ran us aground. Nothing abashed, he would exclaim in an aggrieved tone, "This is not the

path, it is back yonder." "Then why didn't you go yonder at first?" growled out our Kroomen, who had the

work of getting the vessel off. When they spoke roughly to poor Scissors, the weak cringing slavespirit

came forth in, "Those men scold me so, I am ready to run away." This mode of finishing up an engagement is

not at all uncommon on the Zambesi; several cases occurred, when we were on the river, of hired crews

decamping with most of the goods in their charge. If the trader cannot redress his own wrongs, he has to

endure them. The Landeens will not surrender a fugitive slave, even to his master. One belonging to Mr.

Azevedo fled, and was, as a great favour only, returned after a present of much more than his value.

We landed to wood at Shamoara, just below the confluence of the Shire. Its quartz hills are covered with trees

and gigantic grasses; the buaze, a small foresttree, grows abundantly; it is a species of polygala; its beautiful

clusters of sweetscented pinkish flowers perfume the air with a rich fragrance; its seeds produce a fine

drying oil, and the bark of the smaller branches yields a fibre finer and stronger than flax; with which the

natives make their nets for fishing. Bonga, the brother of the rebel Mariano, and now at the head of the

revolted natives, with some of his principal men came to see us, and were perfectly friendly, though told of

our having carried the sick Governor across to Shupanga, and of our having cured him of fever. On our

acquainting Bonga with the object of the expedition, he remarked that we should suffer no hindrance from his

people in our good work. He sent us a present of rice, two sheep, and a quantity of firewood. He never tried

to make any use of us in the strife; the other side showed less confidence, by carefully crossquestioning our

pilot whether we had sold any powder to the enemy. We managed, however, to keep on good terms with both

Senna is built on a low plain, on the right bank of the Zambesi, with some pretty detached hills in the

background; it is surrounded by a stockade of living trees to protect its inhabitants from their troublesome

and rebellious neighbours. It contains a few large houses, some ruins of others, and a weatherbeaten cross,

where once stood a church; a mound shows the site of an ancient monastery, and a mud fort by the river is so

The few Senna merchants, having little or no trade in the village, send parties of trusted slaves into the

interior to hunt for and purchase ivory. It is a dull place, and very conducive to sleep. One is sure to take

fever in Senna on the second day, if by chance one escapes it on the first day of a sojourn there; but no place

is entirely bad. Senna has one redeeming feature: it is the native village of the largehearted and hospitable

Senhor H. A. Ferrao. The benevolence of this gentleman is unbounded. The poor black stranger passing

through the town goes to him almost as a matter of course for food, and is never sent away hungry. In times

of famine the starving natives are fed by his generosity; hundreds of his own people he never sees except on

these occasions; and the only benefit derived from being their master is, that they lean on him as a patriarchal

chief, and he has the satisfaction of settling their differences, and of saving their lives in seasons of drought

Senhor Ferrao received us with his usual kindness, and gave us a bountiful breakfast. During the day the

principal men of the place called, and were unanimously of opinion that the free natives would willingly

cultivate large quantities of cotton, could they find purchasers. They had in former times exported largely

both cotton and cloth to Manica and even to Brazil. "On their own soil," they declared, "the natives are

willing to labour and trade, provided only they can do so to advantage: when it is for their interest, blacks

work very hard." We often remarked subsequently that this was the opinion of men of energy; and that all

settlers of activity, enterprise, and sober habits had become rich, while those who were much addicted to

lying on their backs smoking, invariably complained of the laziness of the negroes, and were poor, proud, and

Beyond Pita lies the little island Nyamotobsi, where we met a small fugitive tribe of hippopotamus hunters,

who had been driven by war from their own island in front. All were busy at work; some were making

gigantic baskets for grain, the men plaiting from the inside. With the civility so common among them the

chief ordered a mat to be spread for us under a shed, and then showed us the weapon with which they kill the

hippopotamus; it is a short iron harpoon inserted in the end of a long pole, but being intended to unship, it is

made fast to a strong cord of milola, or hibiscus, bark, which is wound closely round the entire length of the

shaft, and secured at its opposite end. Two men in a swift canoe steal quietly down on the sleeping animal.

The bowman dashes the harpoon into the unconscious victim, while the quick steersman sweeps the light

craft back with his broad paddle; the force of the blow separates the harpoon from its corded handle, which,

appearing on the surface, sometimes with an inflated bladder attached, guides the hunters to where the

These hippopotamus hunters form a separate people, called Akombwi, or Mapodzo, and rarelythe women

it is said neverintermarry with any other tribe. The reason for their keeping aloof from certain of the

natives on the Zambesi is obvious enough, some having as great an abhorrence of hippopotamus meat as

Mahomedans have of swine's flesh. Our pilot, Scissors, was one of this class; he would not even cook his

food in a pot which had contained hippopotamus meat, preferring to go hungry till he could find another; and

yet he traded eagerly in the animal's tusks, and ate with great relish the flesh of the foul feeding marabout.

These hunters go out frequently on long expeditions, taking in their canoes their wives and children,

cookingpots, and sleepingmats. When they reach a good game district, they erect temporary huts on the

bank, and there dry the meat they have killed. They are rather a comelylooking race, with very black smooth

skins, and never disfigure themselves with the frightful ornaments of some of the other tribes. The chief

declined to sell a harpoon, because they could not now get the milola bark from the coast on account of

Mariano's war. He expressed some doubts about our being children of the same Almighty Father, remarking

that "they could not become white, let them wash ever so much." We made him a present of a bit of cloth,

The heat of the weather steadily increases during this month (August), and foggy mornings are now rare. A

strong breeze ending in a gale blows up stream every night. It came in the afternoon a few weeks ago, then

later, and at present its arrival is near midnight; it makes our frail cabindoors fly open before it, but

continues only for a short time, and is succeeded by a dead calm. Game becomes more abundant; near our

woodingplaces we see herds of zebras, both Burchell's and the mountain variety, pallahs (Antelope

Shiramba Dembe, on the right bank, is deserted; a few old iron guns show where a rebel stockade once stood;

near the river above this, stands a magnificent Baobab hollowed out into a goodsized hut, with bark inside

as well as without. The old oaks in Sherwood Forest, when hollow, have the inside dead or rotten; but the

Baobab, though stripped of its bark outside, and hollowed to a cavity inside, has the power of exuding new

bark from its substance to both the outer and inner surfaces; so, a hut made like that in the oak called the

The portions of the river called Shigogo and Shipanga are bordered by a low level expanse of marshy

country, with occasional clumps of palmtrees and a few thorny acacias. The river itself spreads out to a

width of from three to four miles, with many islands, among which it is difficult to navigate, except when the

river is in flood. In front, a range of high hills from the northeast crosses and compresses it into a deep

narrow channel, called the Lupata Gorge. The Portuguese thought the steamer would not stem the current

here; but as it was not more than about three knots, and as there was a strong breeze in our favour, steam and

sails got her through with ease. Heavyladen canoes take two days to go up this pass. A current sweeps round

the little rocky promontories Chifura and Kangomba, forming whirlpools and eddies dangerous for the

The paddlers place meal on these rocks as an offering to the turbulent deities, which they believe preside over

spots fatal to many a large canoe. We were slily told that native Portuguese take off their hats to these river

gods, and pass in solemn silence; when safely beyond the promontories, they fire muskets, and, as we ought

to do, give the canoemen grog. From the spoor of buffaloes and elephants it appears that these animals

frequent Lupata in considerable numbers, andwe have often observed the association the tsetse fly is

common. A horse for the Governor of Tette was sent in a canoe from Quillimane; and, lest it should be

wrecked on the Chifura and Kangomba rocks, it was put on shore and sent in the daytime through the pass. It

was of course bitten by the tsetse, and died soon after; it was thought that the AIR of Tette had not agreed

with it. The currents above Lupata are stronger than those below; the country becomes more picturesque and

The ship anchored in the stream, off Tette, on the 8th September, 1858, and Dr. Livingstone went ashore in

the boat. No sooner did the Makololo recognize him, than they rushed to the water's edge, and manifested

great joy at seeing him again. Some were hastening to embrace him, but others cried out, "Don't touch him,

you will spoil his new clothes." The five headmen came on board and listened in quiet sadness to the story of

poor Sekwebu, who died at the Mauritius on his way to England. "Men die in any country," they observed,

and then told us that thirty of their own number had died of smallpox, having been bewitched by the people

of Tette, who envied them because, during the first year, none of their party had died. Six of their young men,

becoming tired of cutting firewood for a meagre pittance, proposed to go and dance for gain before some of

the neighbouring chiefs. "Don't go," said the others, "we don't know the people of this country;" but the

young men set out and visited an independent halfcaste chief, a few miles to the north, named Chisaka, who

some years ago burned all the Portuguese villas on the north bank of the river; afterwards the young men

went to Bonga, son of another halfcaste chief, who bade defiance to the Tette authorities, and had a

stockade at the confluence of the Zambesi and Luenya, a few miles below that village. Asking the Makololo

whence they came, Bonga rejoined, "Why do you come from my enemy to me? You have brought witchcraft

medicine to kill me." In vain they protested that they did not belong to the country; they were strangers, and

had come from afar with an Englishman. The superstitious savage put them all to death. "We do not grieve,"

said their companions, "for the thirty victims of the smallpox, who were taken away by Morimo (God); but

our hearts are sore for the six youths who were murdered by Bonga." Any hope of obtaining justice on the

murderer was out of the question. Bonga once caught a captain of the Portuguese army, and forced him to

perform the menial labour of pounding maize in a wooden mortar. No punishment followed on this outrage.

The Government of Lisbon has since given Bonga the honorary title of Captain, by way of coaxing him to

Tette stands on a succession of low sandstone ridges on the right bank of the Zambesi, which is here nearly a

thousand yards wide (960 yards). Shallow ravines, running parallel with the river, form the streets, the houses

being built on the ridges. The whole surface of the streets, except narrow footpaths, were overrun with

selfsown indigo, and tons of it might have been collected. In fact indigo, senna, and stramonium, with a

species of cassia, form the weeds of the place, which are annually hoed off and burned. A wall of stone and

mud surrounds the village, and the native population live in huts outside. The fort and the church, near the

river, are the strongholds; the natives having a salutary dread of the guns of the one, and a superstitious fear

of the unknown power of the other. The number of white inhabitants is small, and rather select, many of them

having been considerately sent out of Portugal "for their country's good." The military element preponderates

in society; the convict and "incorrigible" class of soldiers, receiving very little pay, depend in great measure

on the produce of the gardens of their black wives; the moral condition of the resulting population may be

Droughts are of frequent occurrence at Tette, and the crops suffer severely. This may arise partly from the

position of the town between the ranges of hills north and south, which appear to have a strong attraction for

the rainclouds. It is often seen to rain on these hills when not a drop falls at Tette. Our first season was one

of drought. Thrice had the women planted their gardens in vain, the seed, after just vegetating, was killed by

the intense dry heat. A fourth planting shared the same hard fate, and then some of the knowing ones

discovered the cause of the clouds being frightened away: our unlucky raingauge in the garden. We got a

bad name through that same raingauge, and were regarded by many as a species of evil omen. The

Makololo in turn blamed the people of Tette for drought: "A number of witches live here, who won't let it

rain." Africans in general are sufficiently superstitious, but those of Tette are in this particular preeminent

above their fellows. Coming from many different tribes, all the rays of the separate superstitions converge

into a focus at Tette, and burn out common sense from the minds of the mixed breed. They believe that many

evil spirits live in the air, the earth, and the water. These invisible malicious beings are thought to inflict

much suffering on the human race; but, as they have a weakness for beer and a craving for food, they may be

propitiated from time to time by offerings of meat and drink. The serpent is an object of worship, and hideous

little images are hung in the huts of the sick and dying. The uncontaminated Africans believe that Morungo,

the Great Spirit who formed all things, lives above the stars; but they never pray to him, and know nothing of

their relation to him, or of his interest in them. The spirits of their departed ancestors are all good, according

to their ideas, and on special occasions aid them in their enterprises. When a man has his hair cut, he is

careful to burn it, or bury it secretly, lest, falling into the hands of one who has an evil eye, or is a witch, it

should be used as a charm to afflict him with headache. They believe, too, that they will live after the death of

the body, but do not know anything of the state of the Barimo (gods, or departed spirits).

The mangotree grows luxuriantly above Lupata, and furnishes a grateful shade. Its delicious fruit is superior

to that on the coast. For weeks the natives who have charge of the mangoes live entirely on the fruit, and, as

some trees bear in November and some in March, while the main crop comes between, fruit in abundance

may easily be obtained during four months of the year; but no native can be induced to plant a mango. A

widespread superstition has become riveted in the native mind, that if any one plants this tree he will soon

die. The Makololo, like other natives, were very fond of the fruit; but when told to take up some

mangostones, on their return, and plant them in their own countrythey too having become deeply imbued

with the belief that it was a suicidal act to do soreplied "they did not wish to die too soon." There is also a

superstition even among the native Portuguese of Tette, that if a man plants coffee he will never afterwards

The Portuguese of Tette have many slaves, with all the usual vices of their class, as theft, lying, and impurity.

As a general rule the real Portuguese are tolerably humane masters and rarely treat a slave cruelly; this may

be due as much to natural kindness of heart as to a fear of losing the slaves by their running away. When they

purchase an adult slave they buy at the same time, if possible, all his relations along with him. They thus

contrive to secure him to his new home by domestic ties. Running away then would be to forsake all who

hold a place in his heart, for the mere chance of acquiring a freedom, which would probably be forfeited on

his entrance into the first native village, for the chief might, without compunction, again sell him into slavery.

A rather singular case of voluntary slavery came to our knowledge: a free black, an intelligent active young

fellow, called Chibanti, who had been our pilot on the river, told us that he had sold himself into slavery. On

asking why he had done this, he replied that he was all alone in the world, had neither father nor mother, nor

any one else to give him water when sick, or food when hungry; so he sold himself to Major Sicard, a

notoriously kind master, whose slaves had little to do, and plenty to eat. "And how much did you get for

yourself?" we asked. "Three thirtyyard pieces of cotton cloth," he replied; "and I forthwith bought a man, a

woman, and child, who cost me two of the pieces, and I had one piece left." This, at all events, showed a cool

and calculating spirit; he afterwards bought more slaves, and in two years owned a sufficient number to man

one of the large canoes. His master subsequently employed him in carrying ivory to Quillimane, and gave

him cloth to hire mariners for the voyage; he took his own slaves, of course, and thus drove a thriving

business; and was fully convinced that he had made a good speculation by the sale of himself, for had he been

sick his master must have supported him. Occasionally some of the free blacks become slaves voluntarily by

going through the simple but significant ceremony of breaking a spear in the presence of their future master.

A Portuguese officer, since dead, persuaded one of the Makololo to remain in Tette, instead of returning to

his own country, and tried also to induce him to break a spear before him, and thus acknowledge himself his

slave, but the man was too shrewd for this; he was a great elephant doctor, who accompanied the hunters, told

them when to attack the huge beast, and gave them medicine to ensure success. Unlike the real Portuguese,

many of the halfcastes are merciless slaveholders; their brutal treatment of the wretched slaves is

notorious. What a humane native of Portugal once said of them is appropriate if not true: "God made white

The officers and merchants send parties of slaves under faithful headmen to hunt elephants and to trade in

ivory, providing them with a certain quantity of cloth, beads, etc., and requiring so much ivory in return.

These slaves think that they have made a good thing of it, when they kill an elephant near a village, as the

natives give them beer and meal in exchange for some of the elephant's meat, and over every tusk that is

brought there is expended a vast amount of time, talk, and beer. Most of the Africans are naturalborn

traders, they love trade more for the sake of trading than for what they make by it. An intelligent gentleman

of Tette told us that native traders often come to him with a tusk for sale, consider the price he offers, demand

more, talk over it, retire to consult about it, and at length go away without selling it; next day they try another

merchant, talk, consider, get puzzled and go off as on the previous day, and continue this course daily until

they have perhaps seen every merchant in the village, and then at last end by selling the precious tusk to some

one for even less than the first merchant had offered. Their love of dawdling in the transaction arises from the

selfimportance conferred on them by their being the object of the wheedling and coaxing of eager

The native medical profession is reasonably well represented. In addition to the regular practitioners, who are

a really useful class, and know something of their profession, and the nature and power of certain medicines,

there are others who devote their talents to some speciality. The elephant doctor prepares a medicine which is

considered indispensable to the hunters when attacking that noble and sagacious beast; no hunter is willing to

venture out before investing in this precious nostrum. The crocodile doctor sells a charm which is believed to

possess the singular virtue of protecting its owner from crocodiles. Unwittingly we offended the crocodile

school of medicine while at Tette, by shooting one of these huge reptiles as it lay basking in the sun on a

sandbank; the doctors came to the Makololo in wrath, clamouring to know why the white man had shot their

A shark's hook was baited one evening with a dog, of which the crocodile is said to be particularly fond; but

the doctors removed the bait, on the principle that the more crocodiles the more demand for medicine, or

perhaps because they preferred to eat the dog themselves. Many of the natives of this quarter are known, as in

the South Seas, to eat the dog without paying any attention to its feeding. The dice doctor or diviner is an

important member of the community, being consulted by Portuguese and natives alike. Part of his business is

that of a detective, it being his duty to discover thieves. When goods are stolen, he goes and looks at the

place, casts his dice, and waits a few days, and then, for a consideration, tells who is the thief: he is generally

correct, for he trusts not to his dice alone; he has confidential agents all over the village, by whose inquiries

and information he is enabled to detect the culprit. Since the introduction of muskets, gun doctors have

sprung up, and they sell the medicine which professes to make good marksmen; others are rain doctors, etc.,

etc. The various schools deal in little charms, which are hung round the purchaser's neck to avert evil: some

Indigo, about three or four feet high, grows in great luxuriance in the streets of Tette, and so does the senna

plant. The leaves are undistinguishable from those imported in England. A small amount of firstrate cotton

is cultivated by the native population for the manufacture of a coarse cloth. A neighbouring tribe raises the

sugarcane, and makes a little sugar; but they use most primitive wooden rollers, and having no skill in

mixing lime with the extracted juice, the product is of course of very inferior quality. Plenty of magnetic iron

ore is found near Tette, and coal also to any amount; a single cliffseam measuring twentyfive feet in

thickness. It was found to burn well in the steamer on the first trial. Gold is washed for in the beds of rivers,

within a couple of days of Tette. The natives are fully aware of its value, but seldom search for it, and never

dig deeper than four or five feet. They dread lest the falling in of the sand of the river's bed should bury them.

In former times, when traders went with hundreds of slaves to the washings, the produce was considerable. It

is now insignificant. The gold producing lands have always been in the hands of independent tribes. Deep

cuttings near the sources of the goldyielding streams seem never to have been tried here, as in California

and Australia, nor has any machinery been used save common wooden basins for washing.

Kebrabasa RapidsTetteAfrican feverExploration of the Shire Discovery of Lake Shirwa.

Our curiosity had been so much excited by the reports we had heard of the Kebrabasa rapids, that we resolved

to make a short examination of them, and seized the opportunity of the Zambesi being unusually low, to

endeavour to ascertain their character while uncovered by the water. We reached them on the 9th of

November. The country between Tette and Panda Mokua, where navigation ends, is well wooded and hilly on

both banks. Panda Mokua is a hill two miles below the rapids, capped with dolomite containing copper ore.

Conspicuous among the trees, for its gigantic size, and bark coloured exactly like Egyptian syenite, is the

burly Baobab. It often makes the other trees of the forest look like mere bushes in comparison. A hollow one,

already mentioned, is 74 feet in circumference, another was 84, and some have been found on the West Coast

which measure 100 feet. The lofty range of Kebrabasa, consisting chiefly of conical hills, covered with

scraggy trees, crosses the Zambesi, and confines it within a narrow, rough, and rocky dell of about a quarter

of a mile in breadth; over this, which may be called the floodbed of the river, large masses of rock are

huddled in indescribable confusion. The drawing, for the use of which, and of others, our thanks are due to

Lord Russell, conveys but a faint idea of the scene, inasmuch as the hills which confine the river do not

appear in the sketch. The chief rock is syenite, some portions of which have a beautiful blue tinge like lapis

lazuli diffused through them; others are grey. Blocks of granite also abound, of a pinkish tinge; and these

with metamorphic rocks, contorted, twisted, and thrown into every conceivable position, afford a picture of

dislocation or unconformability which would gladden a geological lecturer's heart; but at high flood this

rough channel is all smoothed over, and it then conforms well with the river below it, which is half a mile

wide. In the dry season the stream runs at the bottom of a narrow and deep groove, whose sides are polished

and fluted by the boiling action of the water in flood, like the rims of ancient Eastern wells by the

drawropes. The breadth of the groove is often not more than from forty to sixty yards, and it has some sharp

turnings, double channels, and little cataracts in it. As we steamed up, the masts of the "Ma Robert," though

some thirty feet high, did not reach the level of the floodchannel above, and the man in the chains sung out,

"No bottom at ten fathoms." Huge potholes, as large as drawwells, had been worn in the sides, and were so

deep that in some instances, when protected from the sun by overhanging boulders, the water in them was

quite cool. Some of these holes had been worn right through, and only the side next the rock remained; while

the sides of the groove of the floodchannel were polished as smooth as if they had gone through the

granitemills of Aberdeen. The pressure of the water must be enormous to produce this polish. It had wedged

round pebbles into chinks and crannies of the rocks so firmly that, though they looked quite loose, they could

not be moved except with a hammer. The mighty power of the water here seen gave us an idea of what is

going on in thousands of cataracts in the world. All the information we had been able to obtain from our

Portuguese friends amounted to this, that some three or four detached rocks jutted out of the river in

Kebrabasa, which, though dangerous to the cumbersome native canoes, could be easily passed by a steamer,

and that if one or two of these obstructions were blasted away with gunpowder, no difficulty would hereafter

be experienced. After we had painfully explored seven or eight miles of the rapid, we returned to the vessel

satisfied that much greater labour was requisite for the mere examination of the cataracts than our friends

supposed necessary to remove them; we therefore went down the river for fresh supplies, and made

The steamer having returned from the bar, we set out on the 22nd of November to examine the rapids of

Kebrabasa. We reached the foot of the hills again, late in the afternoon of the 24th, and anchored in the

stream. Canoemen never sleep on the river, but always spend the night on shore. The natives on the right

bank, in the country called Shidima, who are Banyai, and even at this short distance from Tette, independent,

and accustomed to lord it over Portuguese traders, wondered what could be our object in remaining afloat,

They hailed us from the bank in the evening with "Why don't you come and sleep onshore like other people?"

The answer they received from our Makololo, who now felt as independent as the Banyai, was, "We are held

This hint, a little amplified, saved us from the usual exactions. It is pleasant to give a present, but that

pleasure the Banyai usually deny to strangers by making it a fine, and demanding it in such a supercilious

way, that only a sorely cowed trader could bear it. They often refuse to touch what is offeredthrow it down

and leave itsneer at the trader's slaves, and refuse a passage until the tribute is raised to the utmost extent

Leaving the steamer next morning, we proceeded on foot, accompanied by a native Portuguese and his men

and a dozen Makololo, who carried our baggage. The morning was pleasant, the hills on our right furnished

for a time a delightful shade; but before long the path grew frightfully rough, and the hills no longer shielded

us from the blazing sun. Scarcely a vestige of a track was now visible; and, indeed, had not our guide assured

us to the contrary, we should have been innocent of even the suspicion of a way along the patches of soft

yielding sand, and on the great rocks over which we so painfully clambered. These rocks have a singular

appearance, from being dislocated and twisted in every direction, and covered with a thin black glaze, as if

highly polished and coated with lampblack varnish. This seems to have been deposited while the river was

in flood, for it covers only those rocks which lie between the highest watermark and a line about four feet

above the lowest. Travellers who have visited the rapids of the Orinoco and the Congo say that the rocks

there have a similar appearance, and it is attributed to some deposit from the water, formed only when the

current is strong. This may account for it in part here, as it prevails only where the narrow river is confined

between masses of rock, backed by high hills, and where the current in floods is known to be the strongest;

and it does not exist where the rocks are only on one side, with a sandy beach opposite, and a broad expanse

of river between. The hot rocks burnt the thick soles of our men's feet, and sorely fatigued ourselves. Our first

day's march did not exceed four miles in a straight line, and that we found more than enough to be pleasant.

The state of insecurity in which the Badema tribe live is indicated by the habit of hiding their provisions in

the hills, and keeping only a small quantity in their huts; they strip a particular species of tree of its bitter

bark, to which both mice and monkeys are known to have an antipathy, and, turning the bark inside out, sew

it into cylindrical vessels for their grain, and bury them in holes and in crags on the wooded hillsides. By

this means, should a marauding party plunder their huts, they save a supply of corn. They "could give us no

information, and they had no food; Chisaka's men had robbed them a few weeks before."

"Never mind," said our native Portuguese, "they will sell you plenty when you return, they are afraid of you

now, as yet they do not know who you are." We slept under trees in the open air, and suffered no

inconvenience from either mosquitoes or dew: and no prowling wild beast troubled us; though one evening,

while we were here, a native sitting with some others on the opposite bank was killed by a leopard.

One of the Tette slaves, who wished to be considered a great traveller, gave us, as we sat by our evening fire,

an interesting account of a strange race of men whom he had seen in the interior; they were only three feet

high, and had horns growing out of their heads; they lived in a large town and had plenty of food. The

Makololo poohpoohed this story, and roundly told the narrator that he was telling a downright lie. "WE

come from the interior," cried out a tall fellow, measuring some six feet four, "are WE dwarfs? have WE

horns on our heads?" and thus they laughed the fellow to scorn. But he still stoutly maintained that he had

seen these little people, and had actually been in their town; thus making himself the hero of the traditional

story, which before and since the time of Herodotus has, with curious persistency, clung to the native mind.

The mere fact that such absurd notions are permanent, even in the entire absence of literature, invests the

religious ideas of these people also with importance, as fragments of the wreck of the primitive faith floating

We waded across the rapid Luia, which took us up to the waist, and was about forty yards wide. The water

was discoloured at the time, and we were not without apprehension that a crocodile might chance to fancy a

white man for dinner. Next day one of the men crawled over the black rocks to within ten yards of a sleeping

hippopotamus, and shot him through the brain. The weather being warm, the body floated in a few hours, and

some of us had our first trial of hippopotamus flesh. It is a crossgrained meat, something between pork and

beef, pretty good food when one is hungry and can get nothing better. When we reached the foot of the

mountain named Chipereziwa, whose perpendicular rocky sides are clothed with manycoloured lichens, our

Portuguese companion informed us there were no more obstructions to navigation, the river being all smooth

above; he had hunted there and knew it well. Supposing that the object of our trip was accomplished we

turned back; but two natives, who came to our camp at night, assured us that a cataract, called Morumbwa,

did still exist in front. Drs. Livingstone and Kirk then decided to go forward with three Makololo and settle

the question for themselves. It was as tough a bit of travel as they ever had in Africa, and after some painful

marching the Badema guides refused to go further; "the Banyai," they said, "would be angry if they showed

white men the country; and there was besides no practicable approach to the spot, neither elephant, nor

hippopotamus, nor even a crocodile could reach the cataract." The slopes of the mountains on each side of the

river, now not 300 yards wide, and without the flattish floodchannel and groove, were more than 3000 feet

from the skyline down, and were covered either with dense thornbush or huge black boulders; this deep

troughlike shape caused the sun's rays to converge as into a focus, making the surface so hot that the soles

of the feet of the Makololo became blistered. Around, and up and down, the party clambered among these

heated blocks, at a pace not exceeding a mile an hour; the strain upon the muscles in jumping from crag to

boulder, and wriggling round projections, took an enormous deal out of them, and they were often glad to

cower in the shadow formed by one rock overhanging and resting on another; the shelter induced the

peculiarly strong and overpowering inclination to sleep, which too much sun sometimes causes. This sleep is

curative of what may be incipient sunstroke: in its first gentle touches, it caused the dream to flit over the

boiling brain, that they had become lunatics and had been sworn in as members of the Alpine club; and then it

became so heavy that it made them feel as if a portion of existence had been cut out from their lives. The sun

is excessively hot, and feels sharp in Africa; but, probably from the greater dryness of the atmosphere, we

never heard of a single case of sunstroke, so common in India. The Makololo told Dr. Livingstone they

"always thought he had a heart, but now they believed he had none," and tried to persuade Dr. Kirk to return,

on the ground that it must be evident that, in attempting to go where no living foot could tread, his leader had

given unmistakeable signs of having gone mad. All their efforts of persuasion, however, were lost upon Dr.

Kirk, as he had not yet learned their language, and his leader, knowing his companion to be equally anxious

with himself to solve the problem of the navigableness of Kebrabasa, was not at pains to enlighten him. At

one part a bare mountain spur barred the way, and had to be surmounted by a perilous and circuitous route,

along which the crags were so hot that it was scarcely possible for the hand to hold on long enough to ensure

safety in the passage; and had the foremost of the party lost his hold, he would have hurled all behind him

into the river at the foot of the promontory; yet in this wild hot region, as they descended again to the river,

they met a fisherman casting his handnet into the boiling eddies, and he pointed out the cataract of

Morumbwa; within an hour they were trying to measure it from an overhanging rock, at a height of about one

hundred feet. When you stand facing the cataract, on the north bank, you see that it is situated in a sudden

bend of the river, which is flowing in a short curve; the river above it is jammed between two mountains in a

channel with perpendicular sides, and less than fifty yards wide; one or two masses of rock jut out, and then

there is a sloping fall of perhaps twenty feet in a distance of thirty yards. It would stop all navigation, except

during the highest floods; the rocks showed that the water then rises upwards of eighty feet perpendicularly.

Still keeping the position facing the cataract, on its right side rises Mount Morumbwa from 2000 to 3000 feet

high, which gives the name to the spot. On the left of the cataract stands a noticeable mountain which may be

called onionshaped, for it is partly conical and a large concave flake has peeled off, as granite often does,

and left a broad, smooth convex face as if it were an enormous bulb. These two mountains extend their bases

northwards about half a mile, and the river in that distance, still very narrow, is smooth, with a few detached

rocks standing out from its bed. They climbed as high up the base of Mount Morumbwa, which touches the

cataract, as they required. The rocks were all waterworn and smooth, with huge potholes, even at 100 feet

above low water. When at a later period they climbed up the northwestern base of this same mountain, the

familiar face of the onionshaped one opposite was at once recognised; one point of view on the talus of

Mount Morumbwa was not more than 700 or 800 yards distant from the other, and they then completed the

They did not attempt to return by the way they came, but scaled the slope of the mountain on the north. It

took them three hours' hard labour in cutting their way up through the dense thornbush which covered the

ascent. The face of the slope was often about an angle of 70 degrees, yet their guide Shokumbenla, whose

hard, horny soles, resembling those of elephants, showed that he was accustomed to this rough and hot work,

carried a pot of water for them nearly all the way up. They slept that night at a well in a tufaceous rock on the

A band of native musicians came to our camp one evening, on our own way down, and treated us with their

wild and not unpleasant music on the Marimba, an instrument formed of bars of hard wood of varying

breadth and thickness, laid on differentsized hollow calabashes, and tuned to give the notes; a few pieces of

The rainy season of Tette differs a little from that of some of the other intertropical regions; the quantity of

rainfall being considerably less. It begins in November and ends in April. During our first season in that

place, only a little over nineteen inches of rain fell. In an average year, and when the crops are good, the fall

amounts to about thirtyfive inches. On many days it does not rain at all, and rarely is it wet all day; some

days have merely a passing shower, preceded and followed by hot sunshine; occasionally an interval of a

week, or even a fortnight, passes without a drop of rain, and then the crops suffer from the sun. These partial

droughts happen in December and January. The heat appears to increase to a certain point in the different

latitudes so as to necessitate a change, by some law similar to that which regulates the intense cold in other

countries. After several days of progressive heat here, on the hottest of which the thermometer probably

reaches 103 degrees in the shade, a break occurs in the weather, and a thunderstorm cools the air for a time.

At Kuruman, when the thermometer stood above 84 degrees, rain might be expected; at Kolobeng, the point

at which we looked for a storm was 96 degrees. The Zambesi is in flood twice in the course of the year; the

first flood, a partial one, attains its greatest height about the end of December or beginning of January; the

second, and greatest, occurs after the river inundates the interior, in a manner similar to the overflow of the

Nile, this rise not taking place at Tette until March. The Portuguese say that the greatest height which the

March floods attain is thirty feet at Tette, and this happens only about every fourth year; their observations,

however, have never been very accurate on anything but ivory, and they have in this case trusted to memory

alone. The only fluviometer at Tette, or anywhere else on the river, was set up at our suggestion; and the first

flood was at its greatest height of thirteen feet six inches on the 17th January, 1859, and then gradually fell a

few feet, until succeeded by the greater flood of March. The river rises suddenly, the water is highly

discoloured and impure, and there is a fourknot current in many places; but in a day or two after the first

rush of waters is passed, the current becomes more equally spread over the whole bed of the river, and

resumes its usual rate in the channel, although continuing in flood. The Zambesi water at other times is

almost chemically pure, and the photographer would find that it is nearly as good as distilled water for the

A third visit to Kebrabasa was made for the purpose of ascertaining whether it might be navigable when the

Zambesi was in flood, the chief point of interest being of course Morumbwa; it was found that the rapids

observed in our first trip had disappeared, and that while they were smoothed over, in a few places the current

had increased in strength. As the river fell rapidly while we were on the journey, the cataract of Morumbwa

did not differ materially from what it was when discovered. Some fishermen assured us that it was not visible

when the river was at its fullest, and that the current was then not very strong. On this occasion we travelled

on the right bank, and found it, with the additional inconvenience of rain, as rough and fatiguing as the left

had been. Our progress was impeded by the tall wet grass and dripping boughs, and consequent fever. During

the earlier part of the journey we came upon a few deserted hamlets only; but at last in a pleasant valley we

met some of the people of the country, who were miserably poor and hungry. The women were gathering

wild fruits in the woods. A young man having consented for two yards of cotton cloth to show us a short path

to the cataract led us up a steep hill to a village perched on the edge of one of its precipices; a thunderstorm

coming on at the time, the headman invited us to take shelter in a hut until it had passed. Our guide having

informed him of what he knew and conceived to be our object, was favoured in return with a long reply in

wellsounding blank verse; at the end of every line the guide, who listened with deep attention, responded

with a grunt, which soon became so ludicrous that our men burst into a loud laugh. Neither the poet nor the

responsive guide took the slightest notice of their rudeness, but kept on as energetically as ever to the end.

The speech, or more probably our bad manners, made some impression on our guide, for he declined,

A great deal of fever comes in with March and April; in March, if considerable intervals take place between

the rainy days, and in April always, for then large surfaces of mud and decaying vegetation are exposed to the

hot sun. In general an attack does not continue long, but it pulls one down quickly; though when the fever is

checked the strength is as quickly restored. It had long been observed that those who were stationed for any

length of time in one spot, and lived sedentary lives, suffered more from fever than others who moved about

and had both mind and body occupied; but we could not all go in the small vessel when she made her trips,

during which the change of place and scenery proved so conducive to health; and some of us were obliged to

remain in charge of the expedition's property, making occasional branch trips to examine objects of interest in

the vicinity. Whatever may be the cause of the fever, we observed that all were often affected at the same

time, as if from malaria. This was particularly the case during a north wind: it was at first commonly believed

that a daily dose of quinine would prevent the attack. For a number of months all our men, except two, took

quinine regularly every morning. The fever some times attacked the believers in quinine, while the

unbelievers in its prophylactic powers escaped. Whether we took it daily, or omitted it altogether for months,

made no difference; the fever was impartial, and seized us on the days of quinine as regularly and as severely

as when it remained undisturbed in the medicine chest, and we finally abandoned the use of it as a

prophylactic altogether. The best preventive against fever is plenty of interesting work to do, and abundance

of wholesome food to eat. To a man well housed and clothed, who enjoys these advantages, the fever at Tette

will not prove a more formidable enemy than a common cold; but let one of these be wantinglet him be

indolent, or guilty of excesses in eating or drinking, or have poor, scanty fare,and the fever will probably

become a more serious matter. It is of a milder type at Tette than at Quillimane or on the low seacoast; and,

as in this part of Africa one is as liable to fever as to colds in England, it would be advisable for strangers

always to hasten from the coast to the high lands, in order that when the seizure does take place, it may be of

the mildest type. Although quinine was not found to be a preventive, except possibly in the way of acting as a

tonic, and rendering the system more able to resist the influence of malaria, it was found invaluable in the

cure of the complaint, as soon as pains in the back, sore bones, headache, yawning, quick and sometimes

intermittent pulse, noticeable pulsations of the jugulars, with suffused eyes, hot skin, and foul tongue, began.

Very curious are the effects of African fever on certain minds. Cheerfulness vanishes, and the whole mental

horizon is overcast with black clouds of gloom and sadness. The liveliest joke cannot provoke even the

semblance of a smile. The countenance is grave, the eyes suffused, and the few utterances are made in the

piping voice of a wailing infant. An irritable temper is often the first symptom of approaching fever. At such

times a man feels very much like a fool, if he does not act like one. Nothing is right, nothing pleases the

feverstricken victim. He is peevish, prone to find fault and to contradict, and think himself insulted, and is

exactly what an Irish naval surgeon before a courtmartial defined a drunken man to be: "a man unfit for

Finding that it was impossible to take our steamer of only tenhorse power through Kebrabasa, and

convinced that, in order to force a passage when the river was in flood, much greater power was required, due

information was forwarded to Her Majesty's Government, and application made for a more suitable vessel.

Our attention was in the mean time turned to the exploration of the river Shire, a northern tributary of the

Zambesi, which joins it about a hundred miles from the sea. We could learn nothing satisfactory from the

Portuguese regarding this affluent; no one, they said, had ever been up it, nor could they tell whence it came.

Years ago a Portuguese expedition is said, however, to have attempted the ascent, but to have abandoned it on

account of the impenetrable duckweed (Pistia stratiotes.) We could not learn from any record that the Shire

had ever been ascended by Europeans. As far, therefore, as we were concerned, the exploration was

absolutely new. All the Portuguese believed the Manganja to be brave but bloodthirsty savages; and on our

return we found that soon after our departure a report was widely spread that our temerity had been followed

by fatal results, Dr. Livingstone having been shot, and Dr. Kirk mortally wounded by poisoned arrows.

Our first trip to the Shire was in January, 1859. A considerable quantity of weed floated down the river for

the first twentyfive miles, but not sufficient to interrupt navigation with canoes or with any other craft.

Nearly the whole of this aquatic plant proceeds from a marsh on the west, and comes into the river a little

beyond a lofty hill called Mount Morambala. Above that there is hardly any. As we approached the villages,

the natives collected in large numbers, armed with bows and poisoned arrows; and some, dodging behind

trees, were observed taking aim as if on the point of shooting. All the women had been sent out of the way,

and the men were evidently prepared to resist aggression. At the village of a chief named Tingane, at least

five hundred natives collected and ordered us to stop. Dr. Livingstone went ashore; and on his explaining that

we were English and had come neither to take slaves nor to fight, but only to open a path by which our

countrymen might follow to purchase cotton, or whatever else they might have to sell, except slaves, Tingane

became at once quite friendly. The presence of the steamer, which showed that they had an entirely new

people to deal with, probably contributed to this result; for Tingane was notorious for being the barrier to all

intercourse between the Portuguese black traders and the natives further inland; none were allowed to pass

him either way. He was an elderly, wellmade man, greyheaded, and over six feet high. Though somewhat

excited by our presence, he readily complied with the request to call his people together, in order that all

In commencing intercourse with any people we almost always referred to the English detestation of slavery.

Most of them already possess some information respecting the efforts made by the English at sea to suppress

the slavetrade; and our work being to induce them to raise and sell cotton, instead of capturing and selling

their fellowmen, our errand appears quite natural; and as they all have clear ideas of their own selfinterest,

and are keen traders, the reasonableness of the proposal is at once admitted; and as a belief in a Supreme

Being, the Maker and Ruler of all things, and in the continued existence of departed spirits, is universal, it

becomes quite appropriate to explain that we possess a Book containing a Revelation of the will of Him to

whom in their natural state they recognise no relationship. The fact that His Son appeared among men, and

left His words in His Book, always awakens attention; but the great difficulty is to make them feel that they

have any relationship to Him, and that He feels any interest in them. The numbness of moral perception

exhibited, is often discouraging; but the mode of communication, either by interpreters, or by the imperfect

knowledge of the language, which not even missionaries of talent can overcome save by the labour of many

years, may, in part, account for the phenomenon. However, the idea of the Father of all being displeased with

His children, for selling or killing each other, at once gains their ready assent: it harmonizes so exactly with

their own ideas of right and wrong. But, as in our own case at home, nothing less than the instruction and

The dialect spoken here closely resembles that used at Senna and Tette. We understood it at first only enough

to know whether our interpreter was saying what we bade him, or was indulging in his own version. After

stating pretty nearly what he was told, he had an inveterate tendency to wind up with "The Book says you are

to grow cotton, and the English are to come and buy it," or with some joke of his own, which might have

In the first ascent of the Shire our attention was chiefly directed to the river itself. The delight of threading

out the meanderings of upwards of 200 miles of a hitherto unexplored river must be felt to be appreciated. All

the lower part of the river was found to be at least two fathoms in depth. It became shallower higher up,

where many departing and reentering branches diminished the volume of water, but the absence of

sandbanks made it easy of navigation. We had to exercise the greatest care lest anything we did should be

misconstrued by the crowds who watched us. After having made, in a straight line, one hundred miles,

although the windings of the river had fully doubled the distance, we found further progress with the steamer

arrested, in 15 degrees 55 minutes south, by magnificent cataracts, which we called, "The Murchison," after

one whose name has already a worldwide fame, and whose generous kindness we can never repay. The

native name of that figured in the woodcut is Mamvira. It is that at which the progress of the steamer was first

stopped. The angle of descent is much smaller than that of the five cataracts above it; indeed, so small as

compared with them, that after they were discovered this was not included in the number.

A few days were spent here in the hope that there might be an opportunity of taking observations for

longitude, but it rained most of the time, or the sky was overcast. It was deemed imprudent to risk a land

journey whilst the natives were so very suspicious as to have a strong guard on the banks of the river night

and day; the weather also was unfavourable. After sending presents and messages to two of the chiefs, we

returned to Tette. In going down stream our progress was rapid, as we were aided by the current. The

hippopotami never made a mistake, but got out of our way. The crocodiles, not so wise, sometimes rushed

with great velocity at us, thinking that we were some huge animal swimming. They kept about a foot from

the surface, but made three welldefined ripples from the feet and body, which marked their rapid progress;

raising the head out of the water when only a few yards from the expected feast, down they went to the

In the middle of March of the same year (1859), we started again for a second trip on the Shire. The natives

were now friendly, and readily sold us rice, fowls, and corn. We entered into amicable relations with the

chief, Chibisa, whose village was about ten miles below the cataract. He had sent two men on our first visit to

invite us to drink beer; but the steamer was such a terrible apparition to them, that, after shouting the

invitation, they jumped ashore, and left their canoe to drift down the stream. Chibisa was a remarkably

shrewd man, the very image, save his dark hue, of one of our most celebrated London actors, {2} and the

most intelligent chief, by far, in this quarter. A great deal of fighting had fallen to his lot, he said; but it was

always others who began; he was invariably in the right, and they alone were to blame. He was moreover a

firm believer in the divine right of kings. He was an ordinary man, he said, when his father died, and left him

the chieftainship; but directly he succeeded to the high office, he was conscious of power passing into his

head, and down his back; he felt it enter, and knew that he was a chief, clothed with authority, and possessed

of wisdom; and people then began to fear and reverence him. He mentioned this, as one would a fact of

natural history, any doubt being quite out of the question. His people, too, believed in him, for they bathed in

the river without the slightest fear of crocodiles, the chief having placed a powerful medicine there, which

Leaving the vessel opposite Chibisa's village, Drs. Livingstone and Kirk and a number of the Makololo

started on foot for Lake Shirwa. They travelled in a northerly direction over a mountainous country. The

people were far from being welldisposed to them, and some of their guides tried to mislead them, and could

not be trusted. Masakasa, a Makololo headman, overheard some remarks which satisfied him that the guide

was leading them into trouble. He was quiet till they reached a lonely spot, when he came up to Dr.

Livingstone, and said, "That fellow is bad, he is taking us into mischief; my spear is sharp, and there is no

one here; shall I cast him into the long grass?" Had the Doctor given the slightest token of assent, or even

kept silence, never more would any one have been led by that guide, for in a twinkling he would have been

where "the wicked cease from troubling." It was afterwards found that in this case there was no treachery at

all, but a want of knowledge on their part of the language and of the country. They asked to be led to "Nyanja

Mukulu," or Great Lake, meaning, by this, Lake Shirwa; and the guide took them round a terribly rough piece

of mountainous country, gradually edging away towards a long marsh, which from the numbers of those

animals we had seen there we had called the Elephant Marsh, but which was really the place known to him by

the name "Nyanja Mukulu," or Great Lake. Nyanja or Nyanza means, generally, a marsh, lake, river, or even

The party pushed on at last without guides, or only with crazy ones; for, oddly enough, they were often under

great obligations to the madmen of the different villages: one of these honoured them, as they slept in the

open air, by dancing and singing at their feet the whole night. These poor fellows sympathized with the

explorers, probably in the belief that they belonged to their own class; and, uninfluenced by the general

opinion of their countrymen, they really pitied, and took kindly to the strangers, and often guided them

faithfully from place to place, when no sane man could be hired for love or money.

The bearing of the Manganja at this time was very independent; a striking contrast to the cringing attitude

they afterwards assumed, when the cruel scourge of slavehunting passed over their country. Signals were

given from the different villages by means of drums, and notes of defiance and intimidation were sounded in

the travellers' ears by day; and occasionally they were kept awake the whole night, in expectation of an

instant attack. Drs. Livingstone and Kirk were desirous that nothing should occur to make the natives regard

them as enemies; Masakasa, on the other hand, was anxious to show what he could do in the way of fighting

The perseverance of the party was finally crowned with success; for on the 18th of April they discovered

Lake Shirwa, a considerable body of bitter water, containing leeches, fish, crocodiles, and hippopotami. From

having probably no outlet, the water is slightly brackish, and it appears to be deep, with islands like hills

rising out of it. Their point of view was at the base of Mount Pirimiti or Mopeupeu, on its S.S.W. side.

Thence the prospect northwards ended in a sea horizon with two small islands in the distancea larger one,

resembling a hilltop and covered with trees, rose more in the foreground. Ranges of hills appeared on the

east; and on the west stood Mount Chikala, which seems to be connected with the great mountainmass

The shore, near which they spent two nights, was covered with reeds and papyrus. Wishing to obtain the

latitude by the natural horizon, they waded into the water some distance towards what was reported to be a

sandbank, but were so assaulted by leeches, they were fain to retreat; and a woman told them that in

enticing them into the water the men only wanted to kill them. The information gathered was that this lake

was nothing in size compared to another in the north, from which it is separated by only a tongue of land. The

northern end of Shirwa has not been seen, though it has been passed; the length of the lake may probably be

60 or 80 miles, and about 20 broad. The height above the sea is 1800 feet, and the taste of the water is like a

weak solution of Epsom salts. The country around is very beautiful, and clothed with rich vegetation; and the

waves, at the time they were there breaking and foaming over a rock on the south eastern side, added to the

beauty of the picture. Exceedingly lofty mountains, perhaps 8000 feet above the sealevel, stand near the

eastern shore. When their lofty steepsided summits appear, some above, some below the clouds, the scene is

grand. This range is called Milanje; on the west stands Mount Zomba, 7000 feet in height, and some twenty

Their object being rather to gain the confidence of the people by degrees than to explore, they considered that

they had advanced far enough into the country for one trip; and believing that they could secure their end by a

repetition of their visit, as they had done on the Shire, they decided to return to the vessel at Dakanamoio

island; but, instead of returning by the way they came, they passed down southwards close by Mount

Chiradzuru, among the relatives of Chibisa, and thence by the pass Zedi, down to the Shire. The Kroomen

had, while we were away, cut a good supply of wood for steaming, and we soon proceeded down the river.

The steamer reached Tette on the 23rd of June, and, after undergoing repairs, proceeded to the Kongone to

receive provisions from one of H.M. cruisers. We had been very abundantly supplied with firstrate stores,

but were unfortunate enough to lose a considerable portion of them, and had now to bear the privation as best

we could. On the way down, we purchased a few gigantic cabbages and pumpkins at a native village below

Mazaro. Our dinners had usually consisted of but a single course; but we were surprised the next day by our

black cook from Sierra Leone bearing in a second course. "What have you got there?" was asked in wonder.

"A tart, sir." "A tart! of what is it made?" "Of cabbage, sir." As we had no sugar, and could not "make

believe," as in the days of boyhood, we did not enjoy the feast that Tom's genius had prepared. Her Majesty's

brig "Persian," Lieutenant Saumarez commanding, called on her way to the Cape; and, though somewhat

short of provisions herself, generously gave us all she could spare. We now parted with our Kroomen, as,

from their inability to march, we could not use them in our land journeys. A crew was picked out from the

Makololo, who, besides being good travellers, could cut wood, work the ship, and required only native food.

While at the Kongone it was found necessary to beach the steamer for repairs. She was built of a newly

invented sort of steel plates, only a sixteenth of an inch in thickness, patented, but unfortunately never tried

before. To build an exploring ship of untried material was a mistake. Some chemical action on this

preparation of steel caused a minute hole; from this point, branches like lichens, or the little ragged stars we

sometimes see in thawing ice, radiated in all directions. Small holes went through wherever a bend occurred

in these branches. The bottom very soon became like a sieve, completely full of minute holes, which leaked

perpetually. The engineer stopped the larger ones, but the vessel was no sooner afloat, than new ones broke

out. The first news of a morning was commonly the unpleasant announcement of another leak in the forward

Frequent showers fell on our way up the Zambesi, in the beginning of August. On the 8th we had upwards of

three inches of rain, which large quantity, more than falls in any single rainy day during the season at Tette,

we owed to being near the sea. Sometimes the cabin was nearly flooded; for, in addition to the leakage from

below, rain poured through the roof, and an umbrella had to be used whenever we wished to write: the mode

of coupling the compartments, too, was a new one, and the action of the hinder compartment on the middle

one pumped up the water of the river, and sent it in streams over the floor and lockers, where lay the cushions

which did double duty as chairs and beds. In trying to form an opinion of the climate, it must be recollected

that much of the fever, from which we suffered, was caused by sleeping on these wet cushions. Many of the

botanical specimens, laboriously collected and carefully prepared by Dr. Kirk, were destroyed, or double

About the middle of August, after cutting wood at Shamoara, we again steamed up the Shire, with the

intention of becoming better acquainted with the people, and making another and longer journey on foot to

the north of Lake Shirwa, in search of Lake Nyassa, of which we had already received some information,

under the name Nyinyesi (the stars). The Shire is much narrower than the Zambesi, but deeper, and more

easily navigated. It drains a low and exceedingly fertile valley of from fifteen to twenty miles in breadth.

Ranges of wooded hills bound this valley on both sides. For the first twenty miles the hills on the left bank

are close to the river; then comes Morambala, a detached mountain 500 yards from the river's brink, which

rises, with steep sides on the west, to 4000 feet in height, and is about seven miles in length. It is wooded up

to the very top, and very beautiful. The southern end, seen from a distance, has a fine gradual slope, and looks

as if it might be of easy ascent; but the side which faces the Shire is steep and rocky, especially in the upper

half. A small village peeps out about halfway up the mountain; it has a pure and bracing atmosphere; and is

perched above mosquito range. The people on the summit have a very different climate and vegetation from

those of the plains; but they have to spend a great portion of their existence amidst white fleecy clouds,

which, in the rainy season, rest daily on the top of their favourite mountain. We were kindly treated by these

mountaineers on our first ascent; before our second they were nearly all swept away by Mariano. Dr. Kirk

found upwards of thirty species of ferns on this and other mountains, and even goodsized treeferns; though

scarcely a single kind is to be met with on the plains. Lemon and orange trees grew wild, and pineapples had

been planted by the people. Many large hornbills, hawks, monkeys, antelopes, and rhinoceroses found a

home and food among the great trees round its base. A hot fountain boils up on the plain near the north end. It

bubbles out of the earth, clear as crystal, at two points, or eyes, a few yards apart from each other, and sends

off a fine flowing stream of hot water. The temperature was found to be 174 degrees Fahr., and it boiled an

egg in about the usual time. Our guide threw in a small branch to show us how speedily the Madseawira

(boiling water) could kill the leaves. Unlucky lizards and insects did not seem to understand the nature of a

hotspring, as many of their remains were lying at the bottom. A large beetle had alighted on the water, and

been killed before it had time to fold its wings. An incrustation, smelling of sulphur, has been deposited by

the water on the stones. About a hundred feet from the eye of the fountain the mud is as hot as can be borne

by the body. In taking a bath there, it makes the skin perfectly clean, and none of the mud adheres: it is

strange that the Portuguese do not resort to it for the numerous cutaneous diseases with which they are so

A few clumps of the palm and acacia trees appear west of Morambala, on the rich plain forming the tongue of

land between the rivers Shire and Zambesi. This is a good place for all sorts of game. The Zambesi

canoemen were afraid to sleep on it from the idea of lions being there; they preferred to pass the night on an

island. Some black men, who accompanied us as volunteer workmen from Shupanga, called out one evening

that a lion stood on the bank. It was very dark, and we could only see two sparkling lights, said to be the

lion's eyes looking at us; for here, as elsewhere, they have a theory that the lion's eyes always flash fire at

night. Not being firefliesas they did not move when a shot was fired in their directionthey were

Beyond Morambala the Shire comes winding through an extensive marsh. For many miles to the north a

broad sea of fresh green grass extends, and is so level, that it might be used for taking the meridian altitude of

the sun. Ten or fifteen miles north of Morambala, stands the domeshaped mountain Makanga, or

Chikanda; several others with graniticlooking peaks stretch away to the north, and form the eastern

boundary of the valley; another range, but of metamorphic rocks, commencing opposite Senna, bounds the

valley on the west. After streaming through a portion of this marsh, we came to a broad belt of palm and

other trees, crossing the fine plain on the right bank. Marks of large game were abundant. Elephants had been

feeding on the palm nuts, which have a pleasant fruity taste, and are used as food by man. Two pythons were

observed coiled together among the branches of a large tree, and were both shot. The larger of the two, a

female, was ten feet long. They are harmless, and said to be good eating. The Makololo having set fire to the

grass where they were cutting wood, a solitary buffalo rushed out of the conflagration, and made a furious

charge at an active young fellow named Mantlanyane. Never did his fleet limbs serve him better than during

the few seconds of his fearful flight before the maddened animal. When he reached the bank, and sprang into

the river, the infuriated beast was scarcely six feet behind him. Towards evening, after the day's labour in

woodcutting was over, some of the men went fishing. They followed the common African custom of

agitating the water, by giving it a few sharp strokes with the top of the fishingrod, immediately after

throwing in the line, to attract the attention of the fish to the bait. Having caught nothing, the reason assigned

was the same as would have been given in England under like circumstances, namely, that "the wind made

the fish cold, and they would not bite." Many gardens of maize, pumpkins, and tobacco, fringed the marshy

banks as we went on. They belong to natives of the hills, who come down in the dry season, and raise a crop

on parts at other times flooded. While the crops are growing, large quantities of fish are caught, chiefly

Clarias capensis, and Mugil Africanus; they are dried for sale or future consumption.

As we ascended, we passed a deep stream about thirty yards wide, flowing in from a body of open water

several miles broad. Numbers of men were busy at different parts of it, filling their canoes with the lotus root,

called Nyika, which, when boiled or roasted, resembles our chestnuts, and is extensively used in Africa as

food. Out of this lagoon, and by this stream, the chief part of the duckweed of the Shire flows. The lagoon

itself is called Nyanja ea Motope (Lake of Mud). It is also named Nyanja Pangono (Little Lake), while the

elephant marsh goes by the name of Nyanja Mukulu (Great Lake). It is evident from the shore line still to be

observed on the adjacent hills, that in ancient times these were really lakes, and the traditional names thus

preserved are only another evidence of the general desiccation which Africa has undergone.

The Steamer in difficultiesElephant huntingArrival at Chibisa's Search for Lake NyassaThe

Late in the afternoon of the first day's steaming, after we left the woodingplace, we called at the village of

ChikandaKadze, a female chief, to purchase rice for our men; but we were now in the blissful region where

time is absolutely of no account, and where men may sit down and rest themselves when tired; so they

requested us to wait till next day, and they would then sell us some food. As our forty black men, however,

had nothing to cook for supper, we were obliged to steam on to reach a village a few miles above. When we

meet those who care not whether we purchase or let it alone, or who think men ought only to be in a hurry

when fleeing from an enemy, our ideas about time being money, and the power of the purse, receives a shock.

The state of eager competition, which in England wears out both mind and body, and makes life bitter, is here

happily unknown. The cultivated spots are mere dots compared to the broad fields of rich soil which is never

either grazed or tilled. Pity that the plenty in store for all, from our Father's bountiful hands, is not enjoyed by

The wretched little steamer could not carry all the hands we needed; so, to lighten her, we put some into the

boats and towed them astern. In the dark, one of the boats was capsized; but all in it, except one poor fellow

who could not swim, were picked up. His loss threw a gloom over us all, and added to the chagrin we often

Next day we arrived at the village of Mboma (16 degrees 56 minutes 30 seconds S.), where the people raised

large quantities of rice, and were eager traders; the rice was sold at wonderfully low rates, and we could not

A native minstrel serenaded us in the evening, playing several quaint tunes on a species of one stringed

fiddle, accompanied by wild, but not unmusical songs. He told the Makololo that he intended to play all night

to induce us to give him a present. The nights being cold, the thermometer falling to 47 degrees, with

occasional fogs, he was asked if he was not afraid of perishing from cold; but, with the genuine spirit of an

Italian organgrinder, he replied, "Oh, no; I shall spend the night with my white comrades in the big canoe; I

have often heard of the white men, but have never seen them till now, and I must sing and play well to them."

A small piece of cloth, however, bought him off, and he moved away in good humour. The water of the river

was 70 degrees at sunrise, which was 23 degrees warmer than the air at the same time, and this caused fogs,

which rose like steam off the river. When this is the case cold bathing in the mornings at this time of the year

is improper, for, instead of a glow on coming out, one is apt to get a chill; the air being so much colder than

A range of hills, commencing opposite Senna, comes to within two or three miles of Mboma village, and then

runs in a northwesterly direction; the principal hill is named Malawe; a number of villages stand on its

treecovered sides, and coal is found cropping out in the rocks. The country improves as we ascend, the rich

Both banks are dotted with hippopotamus traps, over every track which these animals have made in going up

out of the water to graze. The hippopotamus feeds on grass alone, and, where there is any danger, only at

night. Its enormous lips act like a mowingmachine, and form a path of shortcropped grass as it feeds. We

never saw it eat aquatic plants or reeds. The tusks seem weapons of both offence and defence. The

hippopotamus trap consists of a beam five or six feet long, armed with a spearhead or hardwood spike,

covered with poison, and suspended to a forked pole by a cord, which, coming down to the path, is held by a

catch, to be set free when the beast treads on it. Being wary brutes, they are still very numerous. One got

frightened by the ship, as she was steaming close to the bank. In its eager hurry to escape it rushed on shore,

and ran directly under a trap, when down came the heavy beam on its back, driving the poisoned spearhead

a foot deep into its flesh. In its agony it plunged back into the river, to die in a few hours, and afterwards

furnished a feast for the natives. The poison on the spearhead does not affect the meat, except the part

around the wound, and that is thrown away. In some places the descending beam is weighted with heavy

"She is leaking worse than ever forward, sir, and there is a foot of water in the hold," was our first salutation

on the morning of the 20th. But we have become accustomed to these things now; the cabin floor is always

wet, and one is obliged to mop up the water many times a day, giving some countenance to the native idea

that Englishmen live in or on the water, and have no houses but ships. The cabin is now a favourite

breedingplace for mosquitoes, and we have to support both the shipbred and shorebred bloodsuckers, of

which several species show us their irritating attentions. A large brown sort, called by the Portuguese mansos

(tame), flies straight to its victim, and goes to work at once, as though it were an invited guest. Some of the

small kinds carry uncommonly sharp lancets, and very potent poison. "What would these insects eat, if we

The juices of plants, and decaying vegetable matter in the mud, probably form the natural food of

mosquitoes, and blood is not necessary for their existence. They appear so commonly at malarious spots, that

their presence may be taken as a hint to man to be off to more healthy localities. None appear on the high

lands. On the low lands they swarm in myriads. The females alone are furnished with the biting apparatus,

and their number appears to be out of all proportion in excess of the males. At anchor, on a still evening, they

were excessively annoying; and the sooner we took refuge under our mosquito curtains, the better. The

miserable and sleepless night that only one mosquito inside the curtain can cause, is so well known, and has

been so often described, that it is needless to describe it here. One soon learns, from experience, that to beat

out the curtains thoroughly before entering them, so that not one of these pests can possibly be harboured

within, is the only safeguard against such severe trials to one's tranquillity and temper.

A few miles above Mboma we came again to the village (16 degrees 44 minutes 30 seconds S.) of the chief

Tingane, the beat of whose war drums can speedily muster some hundreds of armed men. The bows and

poisoned arrows here are of superior workmanship to those below. Mariano's slavehunting parties stood in

great awe of these barbed arrows, and long kept aloof from Tingane's villages. His people were friendly

enough with us now, and covered the banks with a variety of articles for sale. The majestic mountain,

Chipirone, to which we have given the name of Mount Clarendon, now looms in sight, and further to the

N.W. the southern end of the grand Milanje range rises in the form of an unfinished sphinx looking down on

Lake Shirwa. The Ruo (16 degrees 31 minutes 0 seconds S.) is said to have its source in the Milanje

mountains, and flows to the S.W., to join the Shire some distance above Tingane's. A short way beyond the

Ruo lies the Elephant marsh, or Nyanja Mukulu, which is frequented by vast herds of these animals. We

believe that we counted eight hundred elephants in sight at once. In the choice of such a strong hold, they

have shown their usual sagacity, for no hunter can get near them through the swamps. They now keep far

from the steamer; but, when she first came up, we steamed into the midst of a herd, and some were shot from

the ship's deck. A single lesson was sufficient to teach them that the steamer was a thing to be avoided; and at

the first glimpse they are now off two or three miles to the midst of the marsh, which is furrowed in every

direction by wandering branches of the Shire. A fine young elephant was here caught alive, as he was

climbing up the bank to follow his retreating dam. When laid hold of, he screamed with so much energy that,

to escape a visit from the enraged mother, we steamed off, and dragged him through the water by the

proboscis. As the men were holding his trunk over the gunwale, Monga, a brave Makololo elephanthunter,

rushed aft, and drew his knife across it in a sort of frenzy peculiar to the chase. The wound was skilfully sewn

up, and the young animal soon became quite tame, but, unfortunately the breathing prevented the cut from

healing, and he died in a few days from loss of blood. Had he lived, and had we been able to bring him home,

he would have been the first AFRICAN elephant ever seen in England. The African male elephant is from ten

to a little over eleven feet in height, and differs from the Asiatic species more particularly in the convex shape

of his forehead, and the enormous size of his ears. In Asia many of the males, and all the females, are without

tusks, but in Africa both sexes are provided with these weapons. The enamel in the molar teeth is arranged

differently in the two species. By an admirable provision, new teeth constantly come up at the part where in

man the wisdom teeth appear, and these push the others along, and out at the front end of the jaws, thus

keeping the molars sound by renewal, till the animal attains a very great age. The tusks of animals from dry

rocky countries are very munch more dense and heavier than those from wet and marshy districts, but the

The Shire marshes support prodigious numbers of many kinds of water fowl. An hour at the masthead

unfolds novel views of life in an African marsh. Near the edge, and on the branches of some favourite tree,

rest scores of plotuses and cormorants, which stretch their snakelike necks, and in mute amazement turn one

eye and then another towards the approaching monster. By andby the timid ones begin to fly off, or take

"headers" into the stream; but a few of the bolder, or more composed, remain, only taking the precaution to

spread their wings ready for instant flight. The pretty ardetta (Herodias bubulcus), of a light yellow colour

when at rest, but seemingly of a pure white when flying, takes wing, and sweeps across the green grass in

large numbers, often showing us where buffaloes and elephants are, by perching on their backs. Flocks of

ducks, of which the kind called "Soriri" (Dendrocygna personata) is most abundant, being night feeders,

meditate quietly by the small lagoons, until startled by the noise of the steam machinery. Pelicans glide over

the water, catching fish, while the Scopus (Scopus umbretta) and large herons peer intently into pools. The

large black and white spurwinged goose (a constant marauder of native gardens) springs up, and circles

round to find out what the disturbance can be, and then settles down again with a splash. Hundreds of

Linongolos (Anastomus lamelligerus) rise on the wing from the clumps of reeds, or low trees (the

Eschinomena, from which pith hats are made), on which they build in colonies, and are speedily high in

midair. Charming little red and yellow weavers (Ploceidae) remind one of butterflies, as they fly in and out

of the tall grass, or hang to the mouths of their pendent nests, chattering briskly to their mates within. These

weavers seem to have "cock nests," built with only a roof, and a perch beneath, with a doorway on each side.

The natives say they are made to protect the bird from the rain. Though her husband is very attentive, we

have seen the hen bird tearing her mate's nest to pieces, but why we cannot tell. Kites and vultures are busy

overhead, beating the ground for their repast of carrion; and the solemnlooking, statelystepping Marabout,

with a taste for dead fish, or men, stalks slowly along the almost stagnant channels. Groups of men and boys

are searching diligently in various places for lotus and other roots. Some are standing in canoes, on the weed

covered ponds, spearing fish, while others are punting over the small intersecting streams, to examine their

Towards evening, hundreds of pretty little hawks (Erythropus vespertinus) are seen flying in a southerly

direction, and feeding on dragonflies and locusts. They come, apparently, from resting on the palmtrees

during the heat of the day. Flocks of scissorbills (Rhyncops) are then also on the wing, and in search of

food, ploughing the water with their lower mandibles, which are nearly half an inch longer than the upper

At the northeastern end of the marsh, and about three miles from the river, commences a great forest of

palmtrees (Borassus Aethiopium). It extends many miles, and at one point comes close to the river. The

grey trunks and green tops of this immense mass of trees give a pleasing tone of colour to the view. The

mountainrange, which rises close behind the palms, is generally of a cheerful green, and has many trees,

with patches of a lighter tint among them, as if spots of land had once been cultivated. The sharp angular

rocks and dells on its sides have the appearance of a huge crystal broken; and this is so often the case in

Africa, that one can guess pretty nearly at sight whether a range is of the old crystalline rocks or not. The

Borassus, though not an oilbearing palm, is a useful tree. The fibrous pulp round the large nuts is of a sweet

fruity taste, and is eaten by men and elephants. The natives bury the nuts until the kernels begin to sprout;

when dug up and broken, the inside resembles coarse potatoes, and is prized in times of scarcity as nutritious

food. During several months of the year, palmwine, or sura, is obtained in large quantities; when fresh, it is

a pleasant drink, somewhat like champagne, and not at all intoxicating; though, after standing a few hours, it

becomes highly so. Sticks, a foot long, are driven into notches in the hard outside of the treethe inside

being soft or hollowto serve as a ladder; the top of the fruitshoot is cut off, and the sap, pouring out at the

fresh wound, is caught in an earthen pot, which is hung at the point. A thin slice is taken off the end, to open

the pores, and make the juice flow every time the owner ascends to empty the pot. Temporary huts are

erected in the forest, and men and boys remain by their respective trees day and night; the nuts, fish, and

wine, being their sole food. The Portuguese use the palmwine as yeast, and it makes bread so light, that it

Beyond the marsh the country is higher, and has a much larger population. We passed a long line of

temporary huts, on a plain on the right bank, with crowds of men and women hard at work making salt. They

obtain it by mixing the earth, which is here highly saline, with water, in a pot with a small hole in it, and then

evaporating the liquid, which runs through, in the sun. From the number of women we saw carrying it off in

bags, we concluded that vast quantities must be made at these works. It is worth observing that on soils like

this, containing salt, the cotton is of larger and finer staple than elsewhere. We saw large tracts of this rich

brackish soil both in the Shire and Zambesi valleys, and hence, probably, seaisland cotton would do well; a

single plant of it, reared by Major Sicard, flourished and produced the long staple and peculiar tinge of this

celebrated variety, though planted only in the street at Tette; and there also a salt efflorescence appears,

probably from decomposition of the rock, off which the people scrape it for use.

The large village of the chief, Mankokwe, occupies a site on the right bank; he owns a number of fertile

islands, and is said to be the Rundo, or paramount chief, of a large district. Being of an unhappy suspicious

disposition, he would not see us; so we thought it best to move on, rather than spend time in seeking his

On the 25th August we reached Dakanamoio island, opposite the perpendicular bluff on which Chibisa's

village stands; he had gone, with most of his people, to live near the Zambesi, but his headman was civil, and

promised us guides and whatever else we needed. A few of the men were busy cleaning, sorting, spinning,

and weaving cotton. This is a common sight in nearly every village, and each family appears to have its patch

of cotton, as our own ancestors in Scotland had each his patch of flax. Near sunset an immense flock of the

large species of hornbill (Buceros cristatus) came here to roost on the great trees which skirt the edge of the

cliff. They leave early in the morning, often before sunrise, for their feedingplaces, coming and going in

pairs. They are evidently of a loving disposition, and strongly attached to each other, the male always nestling

close beside his mate. A fine male fell to the ground, from fear, at the report of Dr. Kirk's gun; it was caught

and kept on board; the female did not go off in the mornings to feed with the others, but flew round the ship,

anxiously trying, by her plaintive calls, to induce her beloved one to follow her: she came again in the

evenings to repeat the invitations. The poor disconsolate captive soon refused to eat, and in five days died of

grief, because he could not have her company. No internal injury could be detected after death.

Chibisa and his wife, with a natural show of parental feeling, had told the Doctor, on his previous visit, that a

few years before some of Chisaka's men had kidnapped and sold their little daughter, and that she was now a

slave to the padre at Tette. On his return to Tette, the Doctor tried hard to ransom and restore the girl to her

parents, and offered twice the value of a slave; the padre seemed willing, but she could not be found. This

padre was better than the average men of the country; and, being always civil and obliging, would probably

have restored her gratuitously, but she had been sold, it might be to the distant tribe Bazizulu, or he could not

tell where. Custom had rendered his feelings callous, and Chibisa had to be told that his child would never

return. It is this callous state of mind which leads some of our own blood to quote Scripture in support of

slavery. If we could afford to take a backward step in civilization, we might find men among ourselves who

We left the ship on the 28th of August, 1859, for the discovery of Lake Nyassa. Our party numbered

fortytwo in allfour whites, thirtysix Makololo, and two guides. We did not actually need so many, either

for carriage or defence; but took them because we believed that, human nature being everywhere the same,

blacks are as ready as whites to take advantage of the weak, and are as civil and respectful to the powerful.

We armed our men with muskets, which gave us influence, although it did not add much to our strength, as

most of the men had never drawn a trigger, and in any conflict would in all probability have been more

Our path crossed the valley, in a northeasterly direction, up the course of a beautiful flowing stream. Many

of the gardens had excellent cotton growing in them. An hour's march brought us to the foot of the Manganja

hills, up which lay the toilsome road. The vegetation soon changed; as we rose bamboos appeared, and new

trees and plants were met with, which gave such incessant employment to Dr. Kirk, that he travelled the

distance three times over. Remarkably fine trees, one of which has oilyielding seeds, and belongs to the

mahogany family, grow well in the hollows along the rivulet courses. The ascent became very fatiguing, and

we were glad of a rest. Looking back from an elevation of a thousand feet, we beheld a lovely prospect. The

eye takes in at a glance the valley beneath, and the many windings of its silver stream Makubula, or Kubvula,

from the shady hillside, where it emerges in foaming haste, to where it slowly glides into the tranquil Shire;

then the Shire itself is seen for many a mile above and below Chibisa's, and the great level country beyond,

with its numerous green woods; until the prospect, west and northwest, is bounded far away by masses of

peaked and domeshaped blue mountains, that fringe the highlands of the Maravi country.

After a weary march we halted at Makolongwi, the village of Chitimba. It stands in a woody hollow on the

first of the three terraces of the Manganja hills, and, like all other Manganja villages, is surrounded by an

impenetrable hedge of poisonous euphorbia. This tree casts a deep shade, which would render it difficult for

bowmen to take aim at the villagers inside. The grass does not grow beneath it, and this may be the reason

why it is so universally used, for when dry the grass would readily convey fire to the huts inside; moreover,

the hedge acts as a fender to all flying sparks. As strangers are wont to do, we sat down under some fine trees

near the entrance of the village. A couple of mats, made of split reeds, were spread for the white men to sit

on; and the headman brought a seguati, or present, of a small goat and a basket of meal. The full value in

beads and cotton cloth was handed to him in return. He measured the cloth, doubled it, and then measured

that again. The beads were scrutinized; he had never seen beads of that colour before, and should like to

consult with his comrades before accepting them, and this, after repeated examinations and much anxious

talk, he concluded to do. Meal and peas were then brought for sale. A fathom of blue cotton cloth, a full dress

for man or woman, was produced. Our Makololo headman, Sininyane, thinking a part of it was enough for

the meal, was proceeding to tear it, when Chitimba remarked that it was a pity to cut such a nice dress for his

wife, he would rather bring more meal. "All right," said Sininyane; "but look, the cloth is very wide, so see

that the basket which carries the meal be wide too, and add a cock to make the meal taste nicely." A brisk

trade sprang up at once, each being eager to obtain as fine things as his neighbour, and all were in good

humour. Women and girls began to pound and grind meal, and men and boys chased the screaming fowls

over the village, until they ran them down. In a few hours the market was completely glutted with every sort

of native food; the prices, however, rarely fell, as they could easily eat what was not sold.

We slept under the trees, the air being pheasant, and no mosquitoes on the hills. According to our usual plan

of marching, by early dawn our camp was in motion. After a cup of coffee and a bit of biscuit we were on the

way. The air was deliciously cool, and the path a little easier than that of yesterday. We passed a number of

villages, occupying very picturesque spots among the hills, and in a few hours gained the upper terrace, 3000

feet above the level of the sea. The plateau lies west of the Milanje mountains, and its north eastern border

slopes down to Lake Shirwa. We were all charmed with the splendid country, and looked with neverfailing

delight on its fertile plains, its numerous hills, and majestic mountains. In some of the passes we saw

brambleberries growing; and the many other flowers, though of great beauty, did not remind us of youth and

of home like the ungainly thorny bramblebushes. We were a week in crossing the highlands in a northerly

direction; then we descended into the Upper Shire Valley, which is nearly 1200 feet above the level of the

sea. This valley is wonderfully fertile, and supports a large population. After leaving the somewhat

flattopped southern portion, the most prominent mountain of the Zomba range is Njongone, which has a fine

stream running past its northern base. We were detained at the end of the chain some days by one of our

companions being laid up with fever. One night we were suddenly aroused by buffaloes rushing close by the

sickbed. We were encamped by a wood on the border of a marsh, but our patient soon recovered,

The Manganja country is delightfully well watered. The clear, cool, gushing streams are very numerous.

Once we passed seven fine brooks and a spring in a single hour, and this, too, near the close of the dry

season. Mount Zomba, which is twenty miles long, and from 7000 to 8000 feet high, has a beautiful stream

flowing through a verdant valley on its summit, and running away down into Lake Shirwa. The highlands are

well wooded, and many trees, admirable for their height and timber, grow on the various watercourses. "Is

this country good for cattle?" we inquired of a Makololo herdsman, whose occupation had given him skill in

pasturage. "Truly," he replied, "do you not see abundance of those grasses which the cattle love, and get fat

upon?" Yet the people have but few goats, and fewer sheep. With the exception of an occasional leopard,

there are no beasts of prey to disturb domestic animals. Woolsheep would, without doubt, thrive on these

highlands. Part of the Upper Shire valley has a lady paramount, named Nyango; and in her dominions women

rank higher and receive more respectful treatment than their sisters on the hills.

The hill chief, Mongazi, called his wife to take charge of a present we had given him. She dropped down on

her knees, clapping her hands in reverence, before and after receiving our presents from his lordly hands. It

was painful to see the abject manner in which the women of the hill tribes knelt beside the path as we passed;

On entering a village, we proceeded, as all strangers do, at once to the Boalo: mats of split reeds or bamboo

were usually spread for us to sit on. Our guides then told the men who might be there, who we were, whence

we had come, whither we wanted to go, and what were our objects. This information was duly carried to the

chief, who, if a sensible man, came at once; but, if he happened to be timid and suspicious, waited until he

had used divination, and his warriors had time to come in from outlying hamlets. When he makes his

appearance, all the people begin to clap their hands in unison, and continue doing so till he sits down opposite

to us. His counsellors take their places beside him. He makes a remark or two, and is then silent for a few

seconds. Our guides then sit down in front of the chief and his counsellors, and both parties lean forward,

looking earnestly at each other; the chief repeats a word, such as "Ambuiatu" (our Father, or master)or

"moio" (life), and all clap their hands. Another word is followed by two claps, a third by still more clapping,

when each touches the ground with both hands placed together. Then all rise and lean forward with measured

clap, and sit down again with clap, clap, clap, fainter, and still fainter, till the last dies away, or is brought to

an end by a smart loud clap from the chief. They keep perfect time in this species of court etiquette. Our

guides now tell the chief, often in blank verse, all they have already told his people, with the addition perhaps

of their own suspicions of the visitors. He asks some questions, and then converses with us through the

guides. Direct communication between the chief and the head of the stranger party is not customary. In

approaching they often ask who is the spokesman, and the spokesman of the chief addresses the person

indicated exclusively. There is no lack of punctilious good manners. The accustomed presents are exchanged

with civil ceremoniousness; until our men, wearied and hungry, call out, "English do not buy slaves, they buy

food," and then the people bring meal, maize, fowls, batatas, yams, beans, beer, for sale.

The Manganja are an industrious race; and in addition to working in iron, cotton, and basketmaking, they

cultivate the soil extensively. All the people of a village turn out to labour in the fields. It is no uncommon

thing to see men, women, and children hard at work, with the baby lying close by beneath a shady bush.

When a new piece of woodland is to be cleared, they proceed exactly as farmers do in America. The trees are

cut down with their little axes of soft native iron; trunks and branches are piled up and burnt, and the ashes

spread on the soil. The corn is planted among the standing stumps which are left to rot. If grass land is to be

brought under cultivation, as much tall grass as the labourer can conveniently lay hold of is collected together

and tied into a knot. He then strikes his hoe round the tufts to sever the roots, and leaving all standing,

proceeds until the whole ground assumes the appearance of a field covered with little shocks of corn in

harvest. A short time before the rains begin, these grass shocks are collected in small heaps, covered with

earth, and burnt, the ashes and burnt soil being used to fertilize the ground. Large crops of the mapira, or

Egyptian dura (Holcus sorghum), are raised, with millet, beans, and groundnuts; also patches of yams, rice,

pumpkins, cucumbers, cassava, sweet potatoes, tobacco, and hemp, or bang (Cannabis setiva). Maize is

grown all the year round. Cotton is cultivated at almost every village. Three varieties of cotton have been

found in the country, namely, two foreign and one native. The "tonje manga," or foreign cotton, the name

showing that it has been introduced, is of excellent quality, and considered at Manchester to be nearly equal

to the best New Orleans. It is perennial, but requires replanting once in three years. A considerable amount of

this variety is grown in the Upper and Lower Shire valleys. Every family of any importance owns a cotton

patch which, from the entire absence of weeds, seemed to be carefully cultivated. Most were small, none seen

on this journey exceeding half an acre; but on the former trip some were observed of more than twice that

The "tonje cadja," or indigenous cotton, is of shorter staple, and feels in the hand like wool. This kind has to

be planted every season in the highlands; yet, because it makes stronger cloth, many of the people prefer it to

the foreign cotton; the third variety is not found here. It was remarked to a number of men near the Shire

Lakelet, a little further on towards Nyassa, "You should plant plenty of cotton, and probably the English will

come and buy it." "Truly," replied a fartravelled Babisa trader to his fellows, "the country is full of cotton,

and if these people come to buy they will enrich us." Our own observation on the cotton cultivated convinced

us that this was no empty flourish, but a fact. Everywhere we met with it, and scarcely ever entered a village

without finding a number of men cleaning, spinning, and weaving. It is first carefully separated from the seed

by the fingers, or by an iron roller, on a little block of wood, and rove out into long soft bands without twist.

Then it receives its first twist on the spindle, and becomes about the thickness of coarse candlewick; after

being taken off and wound into a large ball, it is given the final hard twist, and spun into a firm cop on the

Iron ore is dug out of the hills, and its manufacture is the staple trade of the southern highlands. Each village

has its smelting house, its charcoalburners, and blacksmiths. They make good axes, spears, needles,

arrowheads, bracelets and anklets, which, considering the entire absence of machinery, are sold at

surprisingly low rates; a hoe over two pounds in weight is exchanged for calico of about the value of

fourpence. In villages near Lake Shirwa and elsewhere, the inhabitants enter pretty largely into the

manufacture of crockery, or pottery, making by hand all sorts of cooking, water, and grain pots, which they

ornament with plumbago found in the hills. Some find employment in weaving neat baskets from split

bamboos, and others collect the fibre of the buaze, which grows abundantly on the hills, and make it into

fishnets. These they either use themselves, or exchange with the fishermen on the river or lakes for dried

fish and salt. A great deal of native trade is carried on between the villages, by means of barter in tobacco,

salt, dried fish, skins, and iron. Many of the men are intelligentlooking, with wellshaped heads, agreeable

faces, and high foreheads. We soon learned to forget colour, and we frequently saw countenances resembling

those of white people we had known in England, which brought back the looks of forgotten ones vividly

before the mind. The men take a good deal of pride in the arrangement of their hair; the varieties of style are

endless. One trains his long locks till they take the admired form of the buffalo's horns; others prefer to let

their hair hang in a thick coil down their backs, like that animal's tail; while another wears it in twisted cords,

which, stiffened by fillets of the inner bark of a tree wound spirally round each curl, radiate from the head in

all directions. Some have it hanging all round the shoulders in large masses; others shave it off altogether.

Many shave part of it into ornamental figures, in which the fancy of the barber crops out conspicuously.

About as many dandies run to seed among the blacks as among the whites. The Man ganja adorn their bodies

extravagantly, wearing rings on their fingers and thumbs, besides throatlets, bracelets, and anklets of brass,

copper, or iron. But the most wonderful of ornaments, if such it may be called, is the pelele, or upperlip ring

of the women. The middle of the upper lip of the girls is pierced close to the septum of the nose, and a small

pin inserted to prevent the puncture closing up. After it has healed, the pin is taken out and a larger one is

pressed into its place, and so on successively for weeks, and months, and years. The process of increasing the

size of the lip goes on till its capacity becomes so great that a ring of two inches diameter can be introduced

with ease. All the highland women wear the pelele, and it is common on the Upper and Lower Shire. The

poorer classes make them of hollow or of solid bamboo, but the wealthier of ivory or tin. The tin pelele is

often made in the form of a small dish. The ivory one is not unlike a napkinring. No woman ever appears in

public without the pelele, except in times of mourning for the dead. It is frightfully ugly to see the upper lip

projecting two inches beyond the tip of the nose. When an old wearer of a hollow bamboo ring smiles, by the

action of the muscles of the cheeks, the ring and lip outside it are dragged back and thrown above the

eyebrows. The nose is seen through the middle of the ring, amid the exposed teeth show how carefully they

have been chipped to look like those of a cat or crocodile. The pelele of an old lady, Chikanda Kadze, a

chieftainess, about twenty miles north of Morambala, hung down below her chin, with, of course, a piece of

the upper lip around its border. The labial letters cannot be properly pronounced, but the under lip has to do

its best for them, against the upper teeth and gum. Tell them it makes them ugly; they had better throw it

away; they reply, "Kodi! Really! it is the fashion." How this hideous fashion originated is an enigma. Can

thick lips ever have been thought beautiful, and this mode of artificial enlargement resorted to in

consequence? The constant twiddling of the pelele with the tongue by the younger women suggested the

irreverent idea that it might have been invented to give safe employment to that little member. "Why do the

women wear these things?" we inquired of the old chief, Chinsunse. Evidently surprised at such a stupid

question, he replied, "For beauty, to be sure! Men have beards and whiskers; women have none; and what

kind of creature would a woman be without whiskers, and without the pelele? She would have a mouth like a

man, and no beard; ha! ha! ha!" Afterwards on the Rovuma, we found men wearing the pelele, as well as

women. An idea suggested itself on seeing the effects of the slight but constant pressure exerted on the upper

gum and front teeth, of which our medical brethren will judge the value. In many cases the upper front teeth,

instead of the natural curve outwards, which the row presents, had been pressed so as to appear as if the line

of alveoli in which they were planted had an inward curve. As this was produced by the slight pressure of the

pelele backwards, persons with too prominent teeth might by slight, but longcontinued pressure, by some

appliance only as elastic as the lip, have the upper gum and teeth depressed, especially in youth, more easily

than is usually imagined. The pressure should be applied to the upper gum more than to the teeth.

The Manganja are not a sober people: they brew large quantities of beer, and like it well. Having no hops, or

other means of checking fermentation, they are obliged to drink the whole brew in a few days, or it becomes

unfit for use. Great merrymakings take place on these occasions, and drinking, drumming, and dancing

continue day and night, till the beer is gone. In crossing the hills we sometimes found whole villages enjoying

this kind of mirth. The veteran traveller of the party remarked, that he had not seen so much drunkenness

during all the sixteen years he had spent in Africa. As we entered a village one afternoon, not a man was to be

seen; but some women were drinking beer under a tree. In a few moments the native doctor, one of the

innocents, "nobody's enemy but his own," staggered out of a hut, with his cuppinghorn dangling from his

neck, and began to scold us for a breach of etiquette. "Is this the way to come into a man's village, without

sending him word that you are coming?" Our men soon pacified the fuddled but goodhumoured medico,

who, entering his beercellar, called on two of them to help him to carry out a huge pot of beer, which he

generously presented to us. While the "medical practitioner" was thus hospitably employed, the chief awoke

in a fright, and shouted to the women to run away, or they would all be killed. The ladies laughed at the idea

of their being able to run away, and remained beside the beerpots. We selected a spot for our camp, our men

cooked the dinner as usual, and we were quietly eating it, when scores of armed men, streaming with

perspiration, came pouring into the village. They looked at us, then at each other, and turning to the chief

upbraided him for so needlessly sending for them. "These people are peaceable; they do not hurt you; you are

Native beer has a pinkish colour, and the consistency of gruel. The grain is made to vegetate, dried in the sun,

pounded into meal, and gently boiled. When only a day or two old, the beer is sweet, with a slight degree of

acidity, which renders it a most grateful beverage in a hot climate, or when fever begets a sore craving for

acid drinks. A single draught of it satisfies this craving at once. Only by deep and longcontinued potations

can intoxication be produced: the grain being in a minutely divided state, it is a good way of consuming it,

and the decoction is very nutritious. At Tette a measure of beer is exchanged for an equalsized pot full of

grain. A present of this beer, so refreshing to our dark comrades, was brought to us in nearly every village.

Beerdrinking does not appear to produce any disease, or to shorten life on the hills. Never before did we see

so many old, greyheaded men and women; leaning on their staves they came with the others to see the white

men. The aged chief, Muata Manga, could hardly have been less than ninety years of age; his venerable

appearance struck the Makololo. "He is an old man," said they, "a very old man; his skin hangs in wrinkles,

just like that on elephants' hips." "Did you never," he was asked, "have a fit of travelling come over you; a

desire to see other lands and people?" No, he had never felt that, and had never been far from home in his

life. For long life they are not indebted to frequent ablutions. An old man told us that he remembered to have

washed once in his life, but it was so long since that he had forgotten how it felt. "Why do you wash?" asked

The superstitious ordeal, by drinking the poisonous muave, obtains credit here; and when a person is

suspected of crime, this ordeal is resorted to. If the stomach rejects the poison, the accused is pronounced

innocent; but if it is retained, guilt is believed to be demonstrated. Their faith is so firm in its discriminating

power, that the supposed criminal offers of his own accord to drink it, and even chiefs are not exempted.

Chibisa, relying on its efficacy, drank it several times, in order to vindicate his character. When asserting that

all his wars had been just, it was hinted that, as every chief had the same tale of innocence to tell, we ought to

suspend our judgment. "If you doubt my word," said he, "give me the muave to drink." A chief at the foot of

Mount Zomba successfully went through the ordeal the day we reached his village; and his people manifested

their joy at his deliverance by drinking beer, dancing, and drumming for two days and nights. It is possible

that the native doctor, who mixes the ingredients of the poisoned bowl, may be able to save those whom he

considers innocent; but it is difficult to get the natives to speak about the matter, and no one is willing to tell

what the muave poison consists of. We have been shown trees said to be used, but had always reason to doubt

the accuracy of our informants. We once found a tree in a village, with many pieces of the bark chipped off,

closely allied to the Tangena or Tanghina, the ordeal poison tree of Madagascar; but we could not ascertain

any particulars about it. Death is inflicted on those found guilty of witchcraft, by the muave.

The women wail for the dead two days. Seated on the ground they chant a few plaintive words, and end each

verse with the prolonged sound of aa, or oo, or eaeaeaa. Whatever beer is in the house of the

deceased, is poured out on the ground with the meal, and all cooking and water pots are broken, as being of

no further use. Both men and women wear signs of mourning for their dead relatives. These consist of narrow

strips of the palmleaf wound round the head, the arms, legs, neck, and breasts, and worn till they drop off

from decay. They believe in the existence of a supreme being, called Mpambe, and also Morungo, and in a

future state. "We live only a few days here," said old Chinsunse, "but we live again after death: we do not

know where, or in what condition, or with what companions, for the dead never return to tell us. Sometimes

the dead do come back, and appear to us in dreams; but they never speak nor tell us where they have gone,

The Upper ShireDiscovery of Lake NyassaDistressing exploration Return to ZambesiUnpleasant

Our path followed the Shire above the cataracts, which is now a broad deep river, with but little current. It

expands in one place into a lakelet, called Pamalombe, full of fine fish, and ten or twelve miles long by five

or six in breadth. Its banks are low, and a dense wall of papyrus encircles it. On its western shore rises a range

of hills running north. On reaching the village of the chief MuanaMoesi, and about a day's march distant

from Nyassa, we were told that no lake had ever been heard of there; that the River Shire stretched on as we

saw it now to a distance of "two months," and then came out from between perpendicular rocks, which

towered almost to the skies. Our men looked blank at this piece of news, and said, "Let us go back to the ship,

it is of no use trying to find the lake." "We shall go and see those wonderful rocks at any rate," said the

Doctor. "And when you see them," replied Masakasa, "you will just want to see something else. But there IS

a lake," rejoined Masakasa, "for all their denying it, for it is down in a book." Masakasa, having unbounded

faith in whatever was in a book, went and scolded the natives for telling him an untruth. "There is a lake,"

said he, "for how could the white men know about it in a book if it did not exist?" They then admitted that

there was a lake a few miles off. Subsequent inquiries make it probable that the story of the "perpendicular

rocks" may have had reference to a fissure, known to both natives and Arabs, in the northeastern portion of

the lake. The walls rise so high that the path along the bottom is said to be underground. It is probably a crack

The chief brought a small present of meal in the evening, and sat with us for a few minutes. On leaving us he

said that he wished we might sleep well. Scarce had he gone, when a wild sad cry arose from the river,

followed by the shrieking of women. A crocodile had carried off his principal wife, as she was bathing. The

Makololo snatched up their arms, and rushed to the bank, but it was too late, she was gone. The wailing of the

women continued all night, and next morning we met others coming to the village to join in the general

mourning. Their grief was evidently heartfelt, as we saw the tears coursing down their cheeks. In reporting

this misfortune to his neighbours, MuanaMoesi said, "that white men came to his village; washed

themselves at the place where his wife drew water and bathed; rubbed themselves with a white medicine

(soap); and his wife, having gone to bathe afterwards, was taken by a crocodile; he did not know whether in

consequence of the medicine used or not." This we could not find fault with. On our return we were viewed

with awe, and all the men fled at our approach; the women remained; and this elicited the remark from our

men, "The women have the advantage of men, in not needing to dread the spear." The practice of bathing,

which our first contact with Chinsunse's people led us to believe was unknown to the natives, we afterwards

We discovered Lake Nyassa a little before noon of the 16th September, 1859. Its southern end is in 14

degrees 25 minutes S. Lat., and 35 degrees 30 minutes E. Long. At this point the valley is about twelve miles

wide. There are hills on both sides of the lake, but the haze from burning grass prevented us at the time from

seeing far. A long time after our return from Nyassa, we received a letter from Captain R. B. Oldfield, R.N.,

then commanding H.M.S. "Lyra," with the information that Dr. Roscher, an enterprising German who

unfortunately lost his life in his zeal for exploration, had also reached the Lake, but on the 19th November

following our discovery; and on his arrival had been informed by the natives that a party of white men were

at the southern extremity. On comparing dates (16th September and 19th November) we were about two

It is not known where Dr. Roscher first saw its waters; as the exact position of Nusseewa on the borders of

the Lake, where he lived some time, is unknown. He was three days northeast of Nusseewa, and on the Arab

road back to the usual crossingplace of the Rovuma, when he was murdered. The murderers were seized by

one of the chiefs, sent to Zanzibar, and executed. He is said to have kept his discoveries to himself, with the

intention of publishing in Europe the whole at once, in a splendid book of travels.

The chief of the village near the confluence of the Lake and River Shire, an old man, called Mosauka, hearing

that we were sitting under a tree, came and kindly invited us to his village. He took us to a magnificent

banyantree, of which he seemed proud. The roots had been trained down to the ground into the form of a

gigantic arm chair, without the seat. Four of us slept in the space betwixt its arms. Mosauka brought us a

present of a goat and basket of meal "to comfort our hearts." He told us that a large slave party, led by Arabs,

were encamped close by. They had been up to Cazembe's country the past year, and were on their way back,

with plenty of slaves, ivory, and malachite. In a few minutes half a dozen of the leaders came over to see us.

They were armed with long muskets, and, to our mind, were a villanouslooking lot. They evidently thought

the same of us, for they offered several young children for sale, but, when told that we were English, showed

signs of fear, and decamped during the night. On our return to the Kongone, we found that H.M.S. "Lynx"

had caught some of these very slaves in a dhow; for a woman told us she first saw us at Mosauka's, and that

This is one of the great slavepaths from the interior, others cross the Shire a little below, and some on the

lake itself. We might have released these slaves but did not know what to do with them afterwards. On

meeting men, led in slavesticks, the Doctor had to bear the reproaches of the Makololo, who never slave,

"Ay, you call us bad, but are we yellowhearted, like these fellowswhy won't you let us choke them?" To

liberate and leave them, would have done but little good, as the people of the surrounding villages would

soon have seized them, and have sold them again into slavery. The Manganja chiefs sell their own people, for

we met Ajawa and slave dealers in several highland villages, who had certainly been encouraged to come

among them for slaves. The chiefs always seemed ashamed of the traffic, and tried to excuse themselves.

"We do not sell many, and only those who have committed crimes." As a rule the regular trade is supplied by

the low and criminal classes, and hence the ugliness of slaves. Others are probably sold besides criminals, as

on the accusation of witchcraft. Friendless orphans also sometimes disappear suddenly, and no one inquires

what has become of them. The temptation to sell their people is peculiarly great, as there is but little ivory on

the hills, and often the chief has nothing but human flesh with which to buy foreign goods. The Ajawa offer

cloth, brass rings, pottery, and sometimes handsome young women, and agree to take the trouble of carrying

off by night all those whom the chief may point out to them. They give four yards of cotton cloth for a man,

three for a woman, and two for a boy or girl, to be taken to the Portuguese at Mozambique, Iboe, and

The Manganja were more suspicious and less hospitable than the tribes on the Zambesi. They were slow to

believe that our object in coming into their country was really what we professed it to be. They naturally

judge us by the motives which govern themselves. A chief in the Upper Shire Valley, whose scared looks led

our men to christen him Kitlabolawa (I shall be killed), remarked that parties had come before, with as

plausible a story as ours, and, after a few days, had jumped up and carried off a number of his people as

slaves. We were not allowed to enter some of the villages in the valley, nor would the inhabitants even sell us

food; Zimika's men, for instance, stood at the entrance of the euphorbia hedge, and declared we should not

pass in. We sat down under a tree close by. A young fellow made an angry oration, dancing from side to side

with his bow and poisoned arrows, and gesticulating fiercely in our faces. He was stopped in the middle of

his harangue by an old man, who ordered him to sit down, and not talk to strangers in that way; he obeyed

reluctantly, scowling defiance, and thrusting out his large lips very significantly. The women were observed

leaving the village; and, suspecting that mischief might ensue, we proceeded on our journey, to the great

disgust of our men. They were very angry with the natives for their want of hospitality to strangers, and with

us, because we would not allow them to give "the things a thrashing." "This is what comes of going with

white men," they growled out; "had we been with our own chief, we should have eaten their goats tonight,

and had some of themselves to carry the bundles for us tomorrow." On our return by a path which left his

village on our right, Zimika sent to apologize, saying that "he was ill, and in another village at the time; it was

not by his orders we were sent away; his men did not know that we were a party wishing the land to dwell in

We were not able, when hastening back to the men left in the ship, to remain in the villages belonging to this

chief; but the people came after us with things for sale, and invited us to stop, and spend the night with them,

urging, "Are we to have it said that white people passed through our country and we did not see them?" We

rested by a rivulet to gratify these sightseers. We appear to them to be red rather than white; and, though

light colour is admired among themselves, our clothing renders us uncouth in aspect. Blue eyes appear

savage, and a red beard hideous. From the numbers of aged persons we saw on the highlands, and the

increase of mental and physical vigour we experienced on our ascent from the lowlands, we inferred that the

climate was salubrious, and that our countrymen might there enjoy good health, and also be of signal benefit,

by leading the multitude of industrious inhabitants to cultivate cotton, buaze, sugar, and other valuable

produce, to exchange for goods of European manufacture; at the same time teaching them, by precept and

Our stay at the Lake was necessarily short. We had found that the best plan for allaying any suspicions, that

might arise in the minds of a people accustomed only to slavetraders, was to pay a hasty visit, and then

leave for a while, and allow the conviction to form among the people that, though our course of action was so

different from that of others, we were not dangerous, but rather disposed to be friendly. We had also a party

at the vessel, and any indiscretion on their part might have proved fatal to the character of the Expedition.

The trade of Cazembe and Katanga's country, and of other parts of the interior, crosses Nyassa and the Shire,

on its way to the Arab port, Kilwa, and the Portuguese ports of Iboe and Mozambique. At present, slaves,

ivory, malachite, and copper ornaments, are the only articles of commerce. According to information

collected by Colonel Rigby at Zanzibar, and from other sources, nearly all the slaves shipped from the

abovementioned ports come from the Nyassa district. By means of a small steamer, purchasing the ivory of

the Lake and River above the cataracts, which together have a shoreline of at least 600 miles, the

slavetrade in this quarter would be rendered unprofitable,for it is only by the ivory being carried by the

slaves, that the latter do not eat up all the profits of a trip. An influence would be exerted over an enormous

area of country, for the Mazitu about the north end of the Lake will not allow slavetraders to pass round that

way through their country. They would be most efficient allies to the English, and might themselves be

benefited by more intercourse. As things are now, the native traders in ivory and malachite have to submit to

heavy exactions; and if we could give them the same prices which they at present get after carrying their

merchandise 300 miles beyond this to the Coast, it might induce them to return without going further. It is

only by cutting off the supplies in the interior, that we can crush the slavetrade on the Coast. The plan

proposed would stop the slavetrade from the Zambesi on one side and Kilwa on the other; and would leave,

beyond this tract, only the Portuguese port of Inhambane on the south, and a portion of the Sultan of

Zanzibar's dominion on the north, for our cruisers to look after. The Lake people grow abundance of cotton

for their own consumption, and can sell it for a penny a pound or even less. Watercarriage exists by the

Shire and Zambesi all the way to England, with the single exception of a portage of about thirtyfive miles

past the Murchison Cataracts, along which a road of less than forty miles could be made at a trifling expense;

and it seems feasible that a legitimate and thriving trade might, in a short time, take the place of the present

Colonel Rigby, Captains Wilson, Oldfield, and Chapman, and all the most intelligent officers on the Coast,

were unanimous in the belief, that one small vessel on the Lake would have decidedly more influence, and do

more good in suppressing the slavetrade, than half a dozen menofwar on the ocean. By judicious

operations, therefore, on a small scale inland, little expense would be incurred, and the English slavetrade

policy on the East would have the same fair chance of success, as on the West Coast.

After a landjourney of forty days, we returned to the ship on the 6th of October, 1859, in a somewhat

exhausted condition, arising more from a sort of poisoning, than from the usual fatigue of travel. We had

taken a little mulligatawney paste, for making soup, in case of want of time to cook other food. Late one

afternoon, at the end of an unusually long march, we reached Mikena, near the base of Mount Njongone to

the north of Zomba, and the cook was directed to use a couple of spoonfuls of the paste; but, instead of doing

so, he put in the whole potful. The soup tasted rather hot, but we added boiled rice to it, and, being very

hungry, partook freely of it; and, in consequence of the overdose, we were delayed several days in severe

suffering, and some of the party did not recover till after our return to the ship. Our illness may partly have

arisen from another cause. One kind of cassava (Jatropha maligna) is known to be, in its raw state, poisonous,

but by boiling it carefully in two waters, which must be thrown off, the poison is extracted and the cassava

rendered fit for food. The poisonous sort is easily known by raising a bit of the bark of the root, and putting

the tongue to it. A bitter taste shows poison, but it is probable that even the sweet kind contains an injurious

principle. The sap, which, like that of our potatoes, is injurious as an article of food, is used in the

"Pepperpot" of the West Indies, under the name of "Cassereep," as a perfect preservative of meat. This juice

put into an earthen vessel with a little water and Chili pepper is said to keep meat, that is immersed in it, good

for a great length of time; even for years. No iron or steel must touch the mixture, or it will become sour. This

"Pepperpot," of which we first heard from the late Archbishop Whately, is a most economical meatsafe in

a hot climate; any beef, mutton, pork, or fowl that may be left at dinner, if put into the mixture and a little

fresh cassereep added, keeps perfectly, though otherwise the heat of the climate or flies would spoil it. Our

cook, however, boiled the cassava root as he was in the habit of cooking meat, namely, by filling the pot with

it, and then pouring in water, which he allowed to stand on the fire until it had become absorbed and boiled

away. This method did not expel the poisonous properties of the root, or render it wholesome; for,

notwithstanding our systematic caution in purchasing only the harmless sort, we suffered daily from its

effects, and it was only just before the end of our trip that this pernicious mode of boiling it was discovered

In ascending 3000 feet from the lowlands to the highlands, or on reaching the low valley of the Shire from the

higher grounds, the change of climate was very marked. The heat was oppressive below, the thermometer

standing at from 84 degrees to 103 degrees in the shade; and our spirits were as dull and languid as they had

been exhilarated on the heights in a temperature cooler by some 20 degrees. The water of the river was

sometimes 84 degrees or higher, whilst that we had been drinking in the hill streams was only 65 degrees.

It was found necessary to send two of our number across from the Shire to Tette; and Dr. Kirk, with guides

from Chibisa, and accompanied by Mr. Rae, the engineer, accomplished the journey. We had found the

country to the north and east so very well watered, that no difficulty was anticipated in this respect in a march

of less than a hundred miles; but on this occasion our friends suffered severely. The little water to be had at

this time of the year, by digging in the beds of dry watercourses, was so brackish as to increase thirstsome

of the natives indeed were making salt from it; and when at long intervals a less brackish supply was found, it

was nauseous and muddy from the frequent visits of large game. The tsetse abounded. The country was level,

and large tracts of it covered with mopane forest, the leaves of which afford but scanty shade to the baked

earth, so that scarcely any grass grows upon it. The sun was so hot, that the men frequently jumped from the

path, in the vain hope of cooling, for a moment, their scorched feet under the almost shadeless bushes; and

the native who carried the provision of salt pork got lost, and came into Tette two days after the rest of the

party, with nothing but the fibre of the meat left, the fat, melted by the blazing sun, having all run down his

back. This path was soon made a highway for slaving parties by Captain Raposo, the Commandant. The

journey nearly killed our two active young friends; and what the slaves must have since suffered on it no one

can conceive; but slaving probably can never be conducted without enormous suffering and loss of life.

Mankokwe now sent a message to say that he wished us to stop at his village on our way down. He came on

board on our arrival there with a handsome present, and said that his young people had dissuaded him from

visiting us before; but now he was determined to see what every one else was seeing. A bald squareheaded

man, who had been his Prime Minister when we came up, was now out of office, and another old man, who

had taken his place accompanied the chief. In passing the Elephant Marsh, we saw nine large herds of

On the 2nd of November we anchored off Shamoara, and sent the boat to Senna for biscuit and other

provisions. Senhor Ferrao, with his wonted generosity, gave us a present of a bullock, which he sent to us in a

canoe. Wishing to know if a second bullock would be acceptable to us, he consulted his Portuguese and

English dictionary, and asked the sailor in charge if he would take ANOTHER; but Jack, mistaking the

Portuguese pronunciation of the letter h, replied, "Oh no, sir, thank you, I don't want an OTTER in the boat,

We had to ground the vessel on a shallow sandbank every night; she leaked so fast, that in deep water she

would have sunk, and the pump had to be worked all day to keep her afloat. Heavy rains fell daily, producing

the usual injurious effects in the cabin; and, unable to wait any longer for our associates, who had gone

overland from the Shire to Tette, we ran down the Kongone and beached her for repairs. Her Majesty's ship

"Lynx," Lieut. Berkeley commanding, called shortly afterwards with supplies; the bar, which had been

perfectly smooth for some time before, became rather rough just before her arrival, so that it was two or three

days before she could communicate with us. Two of her boats tried to come in on the second day, and one of

them, mistaking the passage, capsized in the heavy breakers abreast of the island. Mr. Hunt, gunner, the

officer in charge of the second boat, behaved nobly, and by his skilful and gallant conduct succeeded in

rescuing every one of the first boat's crew. Of course the things that they were bringing to us were lost, but

we were thankful that all the men were saved. The loss of the mailbags, containing Government despatches

and our friends' letters for the past year, was felt severely, as we were on the point of starting on an

expedition into the interior, which might require eight or nine months; and twenty months is a weary time to

be without news of friends and family. In the repairing of our crazy craft, we received kind and efficient aid

from Lieutenant Berkeley, and we were enabled to leave for Tette on December 16th.

We had now frequent rains, and the river rose considerably; our progress up the stream was distressingly

slow, and it was not until the 2nd of February, 1860, that we reached Tette. Mr. Thornton returned on the

same day from a geological tour, by which some Portuguese expected that a fabulous silvermine would be

rediscovered. The tradition in the country is, that the Jesuits formerly knew and worked a precious lode at

Chicova. Mr. Thornton had gone beyond Zumbo, in company with a trader of colour; he soon after this left

the Zambesi and, joining the expedition of the Baron van der Decken, explored the snow mountain

Kilimanjaro, northwest of Zanzibar. Mr. Thornton's companion, the trader, brought back much ivory,

having found it both abundant and cheap. He was obliged, however, to pay heavy fines to the Banyai and

other tribes, in the country which is coolly claimed in Europe as Portuguese. During this trip of six mouths

200 pieces of cotton cloth of sixteen yards each, besides beads and brass wire, were paid to the different

chiefs, for leave to pass through their country. In addition to these sufficiently weighty exactions, the natives

of THIS DOMINION have got into the habit of imposing fines for alleged milandos, or crimes, which the

traders' men may have unwittingly committed. The merchants, however, submit rather than run the risk of

The general monotony of existence at Tette is sometimes relieved by an occasional death or wedding. When

the deceased is a person of consequence, the quantity of gunpowder his slaves are allowed to expend is

enormous. The expense may, in proportion to their means, resemble that incurred by foolishly gaudy funerals

in England. When at Tette, we always joined with sympathizing hearts in aiding, by our presence at the last

rites, to soothe the sorrows of the surviving relatives. We are sure that they would have done the same to us

had we been the mourners. We never had to complain of want of hospitality. Indeed, the great kindness

shown by many of whom we have often spoken, will never be effaced from our memory till our dying day.

When we speak of their failings it is in sorrow, not in anger. Their trading in slaves is an enormous mistake.

Their Government places them in a false position by cutting them off from the rest of the world; and of this

they always speak with a bitterness which, were it heard, might alter the tone of the statesmen of Lisbon. But

here there is no press, no booksellers' shops, and scarcely a schoolmaster. Had we been born in similar

The weddings are celebrated with as much jollity as weddings are anywhere. We witnessed one in the house

of our friend the Padre. It being the marriage of his goddaughter, he kindly invited us to be partakers in his

joy; and we there became acquainted with old Donna Engenia, who was a married wife and had children,

when the slaves came from Cassange, before any of us were born. The whole merry making was marked by

About the only interesting object in the vicinity of Tette is the coal a few miles to the north. There, in the

feeders of the stream Revubue, it crops out in cliff sections. The seams are from four to seven feet in

Learning that it would be difficult for our party to obtain food beyond Kebrabasa before the new crop came in

and knowing the difficulty of hunting for so many men in the wet season, we decided on deferring our

departure for the interior until May, and in the mean time to run down once more to the Kongone, in the

hopes of receiving letters and despatches from the manofwar that was to call in March. We left Tette on

the 10th, and at Senna heard that our lost mail had been picked up on the beach by natives, west of the

Milambe; carried to Quillimane, sent thence to Senna, and, passing us somewhere on the river, on to Tette. At

Shupanga the governor informed us that it was a very large mail; no great comfort, seeing it was away up the

Mosquitoes were excessively troublesome at the harbour, and especially when a light breeze blew from the

north over the mangroves. We lived for several weeks in small huts, built by our men. Those who did the

hunting for the party always got wet, and were attacked by fever, but generally recovered in time to be out

again before the meat was all consumed. No ship appearing, we started off on the 15th of March, and stopped

to wood on the Luabo, near an encampment of hippopotamus hunters; our men heard again, through them, of

the canoe path from this place to Quillimane, but they declined to point it out.

We found our friend Major Sicard at Mazaro with picks, shovels, hurdles, and slaves, having come to build a

fort and customhouse at the Kongone. As we had no good reason to hide the harbour, but many for its being

made known, we supplied him with a chart of the tortuous branches, which, running among the mangroves,

perplex the search; and with such directions as would enable him to find his way down to the river. He had

brought the relics of our fugitive mail, and it was a disappointment to find that all had been lost, with the

exception of a bundle of old newspapers, two photographs, and three letters, which had been written before

The distance from Mazaro, on the Zambesi side, to the Kwakwa at Nterra, is about six miles, over a

surprisingly rich dark soil. We passed the night in the long shed, erected at Nterra, on the banks of this river,

for the use of travellers, who have often to wait several days for canoes; we tried to sleep, but the mosquitoes

and rats were so troublesome as to render sleep impossible. The rats, or rather large mice, closely resembling

Mus pumilio (Smith), of this region, are quite facetious, and, having a great deal of fun in them, often laugh

heartily. Again and again they woke us up by scampering over our faces, and then bursting into a loud laugh

of He! he! he! at having performed the feat. Their sense of the ludicrous appears to be exquisite; they

screamed with laughter at the attempts which disturbed and angry human nature made in the dark to bring

their ill timed merriment to a close. Unlike their prudent European cousins, which are said to leave a sinking

ship, a party of these took up their quarters in our leaky and sinking vessel. Quiet and invisible by day, they

emerged at night, and cut their funny pranks. No sooner were we all asleep, than they made a sudden dash

over the lockers and across our faces for the cabin door, where all broke out into a loud He! he! he! he! he!

he! showing how keenly they enjoyed the joke. They next went forward with as much delight, and scampered

over the men. Every night they went fore and aft, rousing with impartial feet every sleeper, and laughing to

scorn the aimless blows, growls, and deadly rushes of outraged humanity. We observed elsewhere a species

of large mouse, nearly allied to Euryotis unisulcatus (F. Cuvier), escaping up a rough and not very upright

wall, with six young ones firmly attached to the perineum. They were old enough to be well covered with

hair, and some were not detached by a blow which disabled the dam. We could not decide whether any

involuntary muscles were brought into play in helping the young to adhere. Their weight seemed to require a

Scorpions, centipedes, and poisonous spiders also were not unfrequently brought into the ship with the wood,

and occasionally found their way into our beds; but in every instance we were fortunate enough to discover

and destroy them before they did any harm. Naval officers on this coast report that, when scorpions and

centipedes remain a few weeks after being taken on board in a similar manner, their poison loses nearly all its

virulence; but this we did not verify. Snakes sometimes came in with the wood, but oftener floated down the

river to us, climbing on board with ease by the chaincable, and some poisonous ones were caught in the

cabin. A green snake lived with us several weeks, concealing himself behind the casing of the deckhouse in

the daytime. To be aroused in the dark by five feet of cold green snake gliding over one's face is rather

unpleasant, however rapid the movement may be. Myriads of two varieties of cockroaches infested the

vessel; they not only ate round the roots of our nails, but even devoured and defiled our food, flannels, and

boots. Vain were all our efforts to extirpate these destructive pests; if you kill one, say the sailors, a hundred

come down to his funeral! In the work of Commodore Owen it is stated that cockroaches, pounded into a

paste, form a powerful carminative; this has not been confirmed, but when monkeys are fed on them they are

On coming to Senna, we found that the Zulus had arrived in force for their annual tribute. These men are

under good discipline, and never steal from the people. The tax is claimed on the ground of conquest, the

Zulus having formerly completely overcome the Senna people, and chased them on to the islands in the

Zambesi. Fiftyfour of the Portuguese were slain on the occasion, and, notwithstanding the mud fort, the

village has never recovered its former power. Fever was now very prevalent, and most of the Portuguese were

For a good view of the adjacent scenery, the hill, Baramuana, behind the village, was ascended. A caution

was given about the probability of an attack of fever from a plant that grows near the summit. Dr. Kirk

discovered it to be the Paedevia foetida, which, when smelt, actually does give headache and fever. It has a

nasty fetor, as its name indicates. This is one instance in which fever and a foul smell coincide. In a number

of instances offensive effluvia and fever seems to have no connection. Owing to the abundant rains, the crops

in the Senna district were plentiful; this was fortunate, after the partial failure of the past two years. It was the

25th of April, 1860, before we reached Tette; here also the crops were luxuriant, and the people said that they

had not had such abundance since 1856, the year when Dr. Livingstone came down the river. It is astonishing

to any one who has seen the works for irrigation in other countries, as at the Cape and in Egypt, that no

attempt has ever been made to lead out the water either of the Zambesi or any of its tributaries; no machinery

has ever been used to raise it even from the stream, but droughts and starvations are endured, as if they were

Feeling in honour bound to return with those who had been the faithful companions of Dr. Livingstone, in

1856, and to whose guardianship and services was due the accomplishment of a journey which all the

Portuguese at Tette had previously pronounced impossible, the requisite steps were taken to convey them to

We laid the ship alongside of the island Kanyimbe, opposite Tette; and, before starting for the country of the

Makololo, obtained a small plot of land, to form a garden for the two English sailors who were to remain in

charge during our absence. We furnished them with a supply of seeds, and they set to work with such zeal,

that they certainly merited success. Their first attempt at African horticulture met with failure from a most

unexpected source; every seed was dug up and the inside of it eaten by mice. "Yes," said an old native, next

morning, on seeing the husks, "that is what happens this month; for it is the mouse month, and the seed

should have been sown last mouth, when I sowed mine." The sailors, however, sowed more next day; and,

being determined to outwit the mice, they this time covered the beds over with grass. The onions, with other

seeds of plants cultivated by the Portuguese, are usually planted in the beginning of April, in order to have the

advantage of the cold season; the wheat a little later, for the same reason. If sown at the beginning of the

rainy season in November, it runs, as before remarked, entirely to straw; but as the rains are nearly over in

May, advantage is taken of lowlying patches, which have been flooded by the river. A hole is made in the

mud with a hoe, a few seeds dropped in, and the earth shoved back with the foot. If not favoured with certain

misty showers, which, lower down the river, are simply fogs, water is borne from the river to the roots of the

wheat in earthern pots; and in about four months the crop is ready for the sickle. The wheat of Tette is

exported, as the best grown in the country; but a hollow spot at Maruru, close by Mazaro, yielded very good

A number of days were spent in busy preparation for our journey; the cloth, beads, and brass wire, for the trip

were sewn up in old canvas, and each package had the bearer's name printed on it. The Makololo, who had

worked for the Expedition, were paid for their services, and every one who had come down with the Doctor

from the interior received a present of cloth and ornaments, in order to protect them from the greater cold of

their own country, and to show that they had not come in vain. Though called Makololo by courtesy, as they

were proud of the name, Kanyata, the principal headman, was the only real Makololo of the party; and he, in

virtue of his birth, had succeeded to the chief place on the death of Sekwebu. The others belonged to the

conquered tribes of the Batoka, Bashubia, BaSelea, and Barotse. Some of these men had only added to their

own vices those of the Tette slaves; others, by toiling during the first two years in navigating canoes, and

hunting elephants, had often managed to save a little, to take back to their own country, but had to part with it

all for food to support the rest in times of hunger, and, latterly, had fallen into the improvident habits of

Everything being ready on the 15th of May, we started at 2 p.m. from the village where the Makololo had

dwelt. A number of the men did not leave with the goodwill which their talk for months before had led us to

anticipate; but some proceeded upon being told that they were not compelled to go unless they liked, though

others altogether declined moving. Many had taken up with slavewomen, whom they assisted in hoeing, and

in consuming the produce of their gardens. Some fourteen children had been born to them; and in

consequence of now having no chief to order them, or to claim their services, they thought that they were

about as well off as they had been in their own country. They knew and regretted that they could call neither

wives nor children their own; the slaveowners claimed the whole; but their natural affections had been so

enchained, that they clave to the domestic ties. By a law of Portugal the baptized children of slave women are

all free; by the custom of the Zambesi that law is void. When it is referred to, the officers laugh and say,

"These Lisbonborn laws are very stringent, but somehow, possibly from the heat of the climate, here they

lose all their force." Only one woman joined our partythe wife of a Batoka man: she had been given to

him, in consideration of his skilful dancing, by the chief, Chisaka. A merchant sent three of his men along

with us, with a present for Sekeletu, and Major Sicard also lent us three more to assist us on our return, and

two Portuguese gentleman kindly gave us the loan of a couple of donkeys. We slept four miles above Tette,

and hearing that the Banyai, who levy heavy fines on the Portuguese traders, lived chiefly on the right bank,

we crossed over to the left, as we could not fully trust our men. If the Banyai had come in a threatening

manner, our followers might, perhaps, from having homes behind them, have even put down their bundles

and run. Indeed, two of them at this point made up their minds to go no further, and turned back to Tette.

Another, Monga, a Batoka, was much perplexed, and could not make out what course to pursue, as he had,

three years previously, wounded Kanyata, the headman, with a spear. This is a capital offence among the

Makololo, and he was afraid of being put to death for it on his return. He tried, in vain, to console himself

with the facts that he had neither father, mother, sisters, nor brothers to mourn for him, and that he could die

but once. He was good, and would go up to the stars to Yesu, and therefore did not care for death. In spite,

however, of these reflections, he was much cast down, until Kanyata assured him that he would never

mention his misdeed to the chief; indeed, he had never even mentioned it to the Doctor, which he would

assuredly have done had it lain heavy on his heart. We were right glad of Monga's company, for he was a

merry goodtempered fellow, and his lithe manly figure had always been in the front in danger; and, from

We commenced, for a certain number of days, with short marches, walking gently until broken in to travel.

This is of so much importance, that it occurs to us that more might be made out of soldiers if the first few

days' marches were easy, and gradually increased in length and quickness. The nights were cold, with heavy

dews and occasional showers, and we had several cases of fever. Some of the men deserted every night, and

we fully expected that all who had children would prefer to return to Tette, for little ones are well known to

prove the strongest ties, even to slaves. It was useless informing them, that if they wanted to return they had

only to come and tell us so; we should not be angry with them for preferring Tette to their own country.

Contact with slaves had destroyed their sense of honour; they would not go in daylight, but decamped in the

night, only in one instance, however, taking our goods, though, in two more, they carried off their comrades'

property. By the time we had got well into the Kebrabasa hills thirty men, nearly a third of the party, had

turned back, and it became evident that, if many more left us, Sekeletu's goods could not be carried up. At

Stopping one afternoon at a Kebrabasa village, a man, who pretended to be able to change himself into a lion,

came to salute us. Smelling the gunpowder from a gun which had been discharged, he went on one side to get

out of the wind of the piece, trembling in a most artistic manner, but quite overacting his part. The Makololo

explained to us that he was a Pondoro, or a man who can change his form at will, and added that he trembles

when he smells gunpowder. "Do you not see how he is trembling now?" We told them to ask him to change

himself at once into a lion, and we would give him a cloth for the performance. "Oh no," replied they; "if we

tell him so, he may change himself and come when we are asleep and kill us." Having similar superstitions at

home, they readily became as firm believers in the Pondoro as the natives of the village. We were told that he

assumes the form of a lion and remains in the woods for days, and is sometimes absent for a whole month.

His considerate wife had built him a hut or den, in which she places food and beer for her transformed lord,

whose metamorphosis does not impair his human appetite. No one ever enters this hut except the Pondoro

and his wife, and no stranger is allowed even to rest his gun against the baobabtree beside it: the Mfumo, or

petty chief, of another small village wished to fine our men for placing their muskets against an old

tumbledown hut, it being that of the Pondoro. At times the Pondoro employs his acquired powers in hunting

for the benefit of the village; and after an absence of a day or two, his wife smells the lion, takes a certain

medicine, places it in the forest, and there quickly leaves it, lest the lion should kill even her. This medicine

enables the Pondoro to change himself back into a man, return to the village, and say, "Go and get the game

that I have killed for you." Advantage is of course taken of what a lion has done, and they go and bring home

the buffalo or antelope killed when he was a lion, or rather found when he was patiently pursuing his course

of deception in the forest. We saw the Pondoro of another village dressed in a fantastic style, with numerous

charms hung round him, and followed by a troop of boys who were honouring him with rounds of shrill

It is believed also that the souls of departed chiefs enter into lions, and render them sacred. On one occasion,

when we had shot a buffalo in the path beyond the Kafue, a hungry lion, attracted probably by the smell of

the meat, came close to our camp, and roused up all hands by his roaring. Tuba Mokoro, imbued with the

popular belief that the beast was a chief in disguise, scolded him roundly during his brief intervals of silence.

"You a chief, eh? You call yourself a chief, do you? What kind of chief are you to come sneaking about in the

dark, trying to steal our buffalo meat! Are you not ashamed of yourself? A pretty chief truly; you are like the

scavenger beetle, and think of yourself only. You have not the heart of a chief; why don't you kill your own

beef? You must have a stone in your chest, and no heart at all, indeed!" Tuba Mokoro producing no

impression on the transformed chief, one of the men, the most sedate of the party, who seldom spoke, took up

the matter, and tried the lion in another strain. In his slow quiet way he expostulated with him on the

impropriety of such conduct to strangers, who had never injured him. "We were travelling peaceably through

the country back to our own chief. We never killed people, nor stole anything. The buffalo meat was ours, not

his, and it did not become a great chief like him to be prowling round in the dark, trying, like a hyena, to steal

the meat of strangers. He might go and hunt for himself, as there was plenty of game in the forest." The

Pondoro, being deaf to reason, and only roaring the louder, the men became angry, and threatened to send a

ball through him if he did not go away. They snatched up their guns to shoot him, but he prudently kept in the

dark, outside the luminous circle made by our camp fires, and there they did not like to venture. A little

strychnine was put into a piece of meat, and thrown to him, when he soon departed, and we heard no more of

The Kebrabasa people were now plumper and in better condition than on our former visits; the harvest had

been abundant; they had plenty to eat and drink, and they were enjoying life as much as ever they could. At

Defwe's village, near where the ship lay on her first ascent, we found two Mfumos or headmen, the son and

soninlaw of the former chief. A sister's son has much more chance of succeeding to a chieftainship than

the chief's own offspring, it being unquestionable that the sister's child has the family blood. The men are all

marked across the nose and up the middle of the forehead with short horizontal bars or cicatrices; and a single

brass earring of two or three inches diameter, like the ancient Egyptian, is worn by the men. Some wear the

hair long like the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, and a few have eyes with the downward and inward slant

After fording the rapid Luia, we left our former path on the banks of the Zambesi, and struck off in a N.W.

direction behind one of the hill ranges, the eastern end of which is called Mongwa, the name of an acacia,

having a peculiarly strong fetor, found on it. Our route wound up a valley along a small mountainstream

which was nearly dry, and then crossed the rocky spurs of some of the lofty hills. The country was all very

dry at the time, and no water was found except in an occasional spring and a few wells dug in the beds of

watercourses. The people were poor, and always anxious to convince travellers of the fact. The men, unlike

those on the plains, spend a good deal of their time in hunting; this may be because they have but little

ground on the hillsides suitable for gardens, and but little certainty of reaping what may be sown in the

valleys. No women came forward in the hamlet, east of Chiperiziwa, where we halted for the night. Two

shots had been fired at guineafowl a little way off in the valley; the women fled into the woods, and the men

came to know if war was meant, and a few of the old folks only returned after hearing that we were for peace.

The headman, Kambira, apologized for not having a present ready, and afterwards brought us some meal, a

roasted coney (Hyrax capensis), and a pot of beer; he wished to be thought poor. The beer had come to him

from a distance; he had none of his own. Like the Manganja, these people salute by clapping their hands.

When a man comes to a place where others are seated, before sitting down he claps his hands to each in

succession, and they do the same to him. If he has anything to tell, both speaker and hearer clap their hands at

the close of every paragraph, and then again vigorously at the end of the speech. The guide, whom the

headman gave us, thus saluted each of his comrades before he started off with us. There is so little difference

in the language, that all the tribes of this region are virtually of one family.

We proceeded still in the same direction, and passed only two small hamlets during the day. Except the noise

our men made on the march, everything was still around us: few birds were seen. The appearance of a

whydahbird showed that he had not yet parted with his fine long plumes. We passed immense quantities of

ebony and lignumvitae, and the tree from whose smooth and bitter bark granaries are made for corn. The

country generally is clothed with a forest of ordinary sized trees. We slept in the little village near

Sindabwe, where our men contrived to purchase plenty of beer, and were uncommonly boisterous all the

evening. We breakfasted next morning under green wild datepalms, beside the fine flowery stream, which

runs through the charming valley of Zibah. We now had Mount Chiperiziwa between us, and part of the river

near Morumbwa, having in fact come north about in order to avoid the difficulties of our former path. The

last of the deserters, a reputed thief, took French leave of us here. He left the bundle of cloth he was carrying

in the path a hundred yards in front of where we halted, but made off with the musket and most of the brass

rings and beads of his comrade Shirimba, who had unsuspectingly intrusted them to his care.

Proceeding S.W. up this lovely valley, in about an hour's time we reached Sandia's village. The chief was said

to be absent hunting, and they did not know when he would return. This is such a common answer to the

inquiry after a headman, that one is inclined to think that it only means that they wish to know the stranger's

object before exposing their superior to danger. As some of our men were ill, a halt was made here.

As we were unable to march next morning, six of our young men, anxious to try their muskets, went off to

hunt elephants. For several hours they saw nothing, and some of them, getting tired, proposed to go to a

village and buy food. "No!" said Mantlanyane, "we came to hunt, so let us go on." In a short time they fell in

with a herd of cow elephants and calves. As soon as the first cow caught sight of the hunters on the rocks

above her, she, with true motherly instinct, placed her young one between her forelegs for protection. The

men were for scattering, and firing into the herd indiscriminately. "That won't do," cried Mantlanyane, "let us

all fire at this one." The poor beast received a volley, and ran down into the plain, where another shot killed

her; the young one escaped with the herd. The men were wild with excitement, and danced round the fallen

queen of the forest, with loud shouts and exultant songs. They returned, bearing as trophies the tail and part

of the trunk, and marched into camp as erect as soldiers, and evidently feeling that their stature had increased

Sandia's wife was duly informed of their success, as here a law decrees that half the elephant belongs to the

chief on whose ground it has been killed. The Portuguese traders always submit to this tax, and, were it of

native origin, it could hardly be considered unjust. A chief must have some source of revenue; and, as many

chiefs can raise none except from ivory or slaves, this tax is more free from objections than any other that a

black Chancellor of the Exchequer could devise. It seems, however, to have originated with the Portuguese

themselves, and then to have spread among the adjacent tribes. The Governors look sharply after any

elephant that may be slain on the Crown lands, and demand one of the tusks from their vassals. We did not

find the law in operation in any tribe beyond the range of Portuguese traders, or further than the sphere of

travel of those Arabs who imitated Portuguese customs in trade. At the Kafue in 1855 the chiefs bought the

meat we killed, and demanded nothing as their due; and so it was up the Shire during our visits. The slaves of

the Portuguese, who are sent by their masters to shoot elephants, probably connive at the extension of this

law, for they strive to get the good will of the chiefs to whose country they come, by advising them to make a

demand of half of each elephant killed, and for this advice they are well paid in beer. When we found that the

Portuguese argued in favour of this law, we told the natives that they might exact tusks from THEM, but that

the English, being different, preferred the pure native custom. It was this which made Sandia, as afterwards

mentioned, hesitate; but we did not care to insist on exemption in our favour, where the prevalence of the

The cutting up of an elephant is quite a unique spectacle. The men stand remind the animal in dead silence,

while the chief of the travelling party declares that, according to ancient law, the head and right hindleg

belong to him who killed the beast, that is, to him who inflicted the first wound; the left leg to bins who

delivered the second, or first touched the animal after it fell. The meat around the eye to the English, or chief

of the travellers, and different parts to the headmen of the different fires, or groups, of which the camp is

composed; not forgetting to enjoin the preservation of the fat and bowels for a second distribution. This

oration finished, the natives soon become excited, and scream wildly as they cut away at the carcass with a

score of spears, whose long handles quiver in the air above their heads. Their excitement becomes

momentarily more and more intense, and reaches the culminating point when, as denoted by a roar of gas, the

huge mass is laid fairly open. Some jump inside, and roll about there in their eagerness to seize the precious

fat, while others run off, screaming, with pieces of the bloody meat, throw it on the grass, and run back for

more: all keep talking and shouting at the utmost pitch of their voices. Sometimes two or three, regardless of

all laws, seize the same piece of meat, and have a brief fight of words over it. Occasionally an agonized yell

bursts forth, and a native emerges out of the moving mass of dead elephant and wriggling humanity, with his

hand badly cut by the spear of his excited friend and neighbour: this requires a rag and some soothing words

to prevent bad blood. In an incredibly short time tons of meat are cut up, and placed in separate heaps around.

Sandia arrived soon after the beast was divided: he is an elderly man, and wears a wig made of "ife" fibre

(sanseviera) dyed black, and of a fine glossy appearance. This plant is allied to the aloes, and its thick fleshy

leaves, in shape somewhat like our sedges, when bruised yield much fine strong fibre, which is made into

ropes, nets, and wigs. It takes dyes readily, and the fibre might form a good article of commerce. "Ife" wigs,

as we afterwards saw, are not uncommon in this country, though perhaps not so common as hair wigs at

home. Sandia's mosamela, or small carved wooden pillow, exactly resembling the ancient Egyptian one, was

hung from the back of his neck; this pillow and a sleeping mat are usually carried by natives when on hunting

We had the elephant's forefoot cooked for ourselves, in native fashion. A large hole was dug in the ground,

in which a fire was made; and, when the inside was thoroughly heated, the entire foot was placed in it, and

covered over with the hot ashes and soil; another fire was made above the whole, and kept burning all night.

We had the foot thus cooked for breakfast next morning, and found it delicious. It is a whitish mass, slightly

gelatinous, and sweet, like marrow. A long march, to prevent biliousness, is a wise precaution after a meal of

elephant's foot. Elephant's trunk and tongue are also good, and, after long simmering, much resemble the

hump of a buffalo and the tongue of an ox; but all the other meat is tough, and, from its peculiar flavour, only

to be eaten by a hungry man. The quantities of meat our men devour is quite astounding. They boil as much

as their pots will hold, and eat till it becomes physically impossible for them to stow away any more. An

uproarious dance follows, accompanied with stentorian song; and as soon as they have shaken their first

course down, and washed off the sweat and dust of the after performance, they go to work to roast more: a

short snatch of sleep succeeds, and they are up and at it again; all night long it is boil and eat, roast and

devour, with a few brief interludes of sleep. Like other carnivora, these men can endure hunger for a much

longer period than the mere porridgeeating tribes. Our men can cook meat as well as any reasonable

traveller could desire; and, boiled in earthen pots, like Indian chatties, it tastes much better than when cooked

Magnificent sceneryMethod of marchingHippopotamus killedLions and buffaloSequasha the

Sandia gave us two guides; and on the 4th of June we left the Elephant valley, taking a westerly course; and,

after crossing a few ridges, entered the Chingerere or Paguruguru valley, through which, in the rainy season,

runs the streamlet Pajodze. The mountains on our left, between us and the Zambesi, our guides told us have

the same name as the valley, but that at the confluence of the Pajodze is called Morumbwa. We struck the

river at less than half a mile to the north of the cataract Morumbwa. On climbing up the base of this mountain

at Pajodze, we found that we were distant only the diameter of the mountain from the cataract. In measuring

the cataract we formerly stood on its southern flank; now we were perched on its northern flank, and at once

recognized the onionshaped mountain, here called Zakavuma, whose smooth convex surface overlooks the

broken water. Its bearing by compass was l80 degrees from the spot to which we had climbed, and 700 or 800

yards distant. We now, from this standingpoint, therefore, completed our inspection of all Kebrabasa, and

saw what, as a whole, was never before seen by Europeans so far as any records show.

The remainder of the Kebrabasa path, on to Chicova, was close to the compressed and rocky river. Ranges of

lofty treecovered mountains, with deep narrow valleys, in which are dry watercourses, or flowing rivulets,

stretch from the northwest, and are prolonged on the opposite side of the river in a southeasterly direction.

Looking back, the mountain scenery in Kebrabasa was magnificent; conspicuous from their form and steep

sides, are the two gigantic portals of the cataract; the vast forests still wore their many brilliant autumnal

coloured tints of green, yellow, red, purple, and brown, thrown into relief by the grey bark of the trunks in the

background. Among these variegated trees were some conspicuous for their new livery of fresh lightgreen

leaves, as though the winter of others was their spring. The bright sunshine in these mountain forests, and the

everchanging forms of the cloud shadows, gliding over portions of the surface, added fresh charms to scenes

From what we have seen of the Kebrabasa rocks and rapids, it appears too evident that they must always form

a barrier to navigation at the ordinary low water of the river; but the rise of the water in this gorge being as

much as eighty feet perpendicularly, it is probable that a steamer might be taken up at high flood, when all

the rapids are smoothed over, to run on the Upper Zambesi. The most formidable cataract in it, Morumbwa,

has only about twenty feet of fall, in a distance of thirty yards, and it must entirely disappear when the water

stands eighty feet higher. Those of the Makololo who worked on board the ship were not sorry at the steamer

being left below, as they had become heartily tired of cutting the wood that the insatiable furnace of the

"Asthmatic" required. Mbia, who was a bit of a wag, laughingly exclaimed in broken English, "Oh,

Kebrabasa good, very good; no let shippee up to Sekeletu, too muchee work, cuttee woodyee, cuttee

woodyee: Kebrabasa good." It is currently reported, and commonly believed, that once upon a time a

Portuguese named Jose Pedra,by the natives called Nyamatimbira,chief, or capitao mor, of Zumbo, a

man of large enterprise and small humanity, being anxious to ascertain if Kebrabasa could be navigated,

made two slaves fast to a canoe, and launched it from Chicova into Kebrabasa, in order to see if it would

come out at the other end. As neither slaves nor canoe ever appeared again, his Excellency concluded that

Kebrabasa was unnavigable. A trader had a large canoe swept away by a sudden rise of the river, and it was

found without damage below; but the most satisfactory information was that of old Sandia, who asserted that

We emerged from the thirtyfive or forty miles of Kebrabasa hills into the Chicova plains on the 7th of June,

1860, having made short marches all the way. The cold nights caused some of our men to cough badly, and

colds in this country almost invariably become fever. The Zambesi suddenly expands at Chicova, and

assumes the size and appearance it has at Tette. Near this point we found a large seam of coal exposed in the

We met with native travellers occasionally. Those on a long journey carry with them a sleepingmat and

wooden pillow, cookingpot and bag of meal, pipe and tobaccopouch, a knife, bow, and arrows, and two

small sticks, of from two to three feet in length, for making fire, when obliged to sleep away from human

habitations. Dry wood is always abundant, and they get fire by the following method. A notch is cut in one of

the sticks, which, with a closegrained outside, has a small core of pith, and this notched stick is laid

horizontally on a knifeblade on the ground; the operator squatting, places his great toes on each end to keep

all steady, and taking the other wand which is of very hard wood cut to a blunt point, fits it into the notch at

right angles; the upright wand is made to spin rapidly backwards and forwards between the palms of the

hands, drill fashion, and at the same time is pressed downwards; the friction, in the course of a minute or so,

ignites portions of the pith of the notched stick, which, rolling over like live charcoal on to the knifeblade,

are lifted into a handful of fine dry grass, and carefully blown, by waving backwards and forwards in the air.

It is hard work for the hands to procure fire by this process, as the vigorous drilling and downward pressure

Having now entered a country where lions were numerous, our men began to pay greater attention to the

arrangements of the camp at night. As they are accustomed to do with their chiefs, they place the white men

in the centre; Kanyata, his men, and the two donkeys, camp on our right; Tuba Mokoro's party of Bashubia

are in front; Masakasa, and Sininyane's body of Batoka, on the left; and in the rear six Tette men have their

fires. In placing their fires they are careful to put them where the smoke will not blow in our faces. Soon after

we halt, the spot for the English is selected, and all regulate their places accordingly, and deposit their

burdens. The men take it by turns to cut some of the tall dry grass, and spread it for our beds on a spot, either

naturally level, or smoothed by the hoe; some, appointed to carry our bedding, then bring our rugs and

karosses, and place the three rugs in a row on the grass; Dr. Livingstone's being in the middle, Dr. Kirk's on

the right, and Charles Livingstone's on the left. Our bags, rifles, and revolvers are carefully placed at our

heads, and a fire made near our feet. We have no tent nor covering of any kind except the branches of the tree

under which we may happen to lie; and it is a pretty sight to look up and see every branch, leaf, and twig of

the tree stand out, reflected against the clear starspangled and moonlit sky. The stars of the first magnitude

have names which convey the same meaning over very wide tracts of country. Here when Venus comes out

in the evenings, she is called Ntanda, the eldest or firstborn, and Manjika, the firstborn of morning, at other

times: she has so much radiance when shining alone, that she casts a shadow. Sirius is named Kuewa usiko,

"drawer of night," because supposed to draw the whole night after it. The moon has no evil influence in this

country, so far as we know. We have lain and looked up at her, till sweet sleep closed our eyes, unharmed.

Four or five of our men were affected with moonblindness at Tette; though they had not slept out of doors

there, they became so blind that their comrades had to guide their hands to the general dish of food; the

affection is unknown in their own country. When our posterity shall have discovered what it is which, distinct

from foul smells, causes fever, and what, apart from the moon, causes men to be moon struck, they will pity

The men cut a very small quantity of grass for themselves, and sleep in fumbas or sleepingbags, which are

double mats of palmleaf, six feet long by four wide, and sewn together round three parts of the square, and

left open only on one side. They are used as a protection from the cold, wet, and mosquitoes, and are entered

as we should get into our beds, were the blankets nailed to the top, bottom, and one side of the bedstead.

A dozen fires are nightly kindled in the camp; and these, being replenished from time to time by the men who

are awakened by the cold, are kept burning until daylight. Abundance of dry hard wood is obtained with little

trouble; and burns beautifully. After the great business of cooking and eating is over, all sit round the

campfires, and engage in talking or singing. Every evening one of the Batoka plays his "sansa," and

continues at it until far into the night; he accompanies it with an extempore song, in which he rehearses their

deeds ever since they left their own country. At times animated political discussions spring up, and the

amount of eloquence expended on these occasions is amazing. The whole camp is aroused, and the men shout

to one another from the different fires; whilst some, whose tongues are never heard on any other subject,

As a specimen of our mode of marching, we rise about five, or as soon as dawn appears, take a cup of tea and

a bit of biscuit; the servants fold up the blankets and stow them away in the bags they carry; the others tie

their fumbas and cookingpots to each end of their carryingsticks, which are borne on the shoulder; the

cook secures the dishes, and all are on the path by sunrise. If a convenient spot can be found we halt for

breakfast about nine a.m. To save time, this meal is generally cooked the night before, and has only to be

warmed. We continue the march after breakfast, rest a little in the middle of the day, and break off early in

the afternoon. We average from two to twoandahalf miles an hour in a straight line, or as the crow flies,

and seldom have more than five or six hours a day of actual travel. This in a hot climate is as much as a man

can accomplish without being oppressed; and we always tried to make our progress more a pleasure than a

toil. To hurry over the ground, abuse, and look ferocious at one's native companions, merely for the foolish

vanity of boasting how quickly a distance was accomplished, is a combination of silliness with absurdity

quite odious; while kindly consideration for the feelings of even blacks, the pleasure of observing scenery and

everything new as one moves on at an ordinary pace, and the participation in the most delicious rest with our

fellows, render travelling delightful. Though not given to over haste, we were a little surprised to find that we

could tire our men out; and even the headman, who carried but little more than we did, and never, as we often

had to do, hunted in the afternoon, was no better than his comrades. Our experience tends to prove that the

European constitution has a power of endurance, even in the tropics, greater than that of the hardiest of the

After pitching our camp, one or two of us usually go off to hunt, more as a matter of necessity than of

pleasure, for the men, as well as ourselves, must have meat. We prefer to take a man with us to carry home

the game, or lead the others to where it lies; but as they frequently grumble and complain of being tired, we

do not particularly object to going alone, except that it involves the extra labour of our making a second trip

to show the men where the animal that has been shot is to be found. When it is a couple of miles off it is

rather fatiguing to have to go twice; more especially on the days when it is solely to supply their wants that,

instead of resting ourselves, we go at all. Like those who perform benevolent deeds at home, the tired hunter,

though trying hard to live in charity with all men, is strongly tempted to give it up by bringing only sufficient

meat for the three whites and leaving the rest; thus sending the "idle ungrateful poor" supperless to bed. And

yet it is only by continuance in welldoing, even to the length of what the worldlywise call weakness, that

the conviction is produced anywhere, that our motives are high enough to secure sincere respect.

A jungle of mimosa, ebony, and "waitabit" thorn lies between the Chicova flats and the cultivated plain, on

which stand the villages of the chief, Chitora. He brought us a present of food and drink, because, as he, with

the innate politeness of an African, said, he "did not wish us to sleep hungry: he had heard of the Doctor

when he passed down, and had a great desire to see and converse with him; but he was a child then, and could

not speak in the presence of great men. He was glad that he had seen the English now, and was sorry that his

people were away, or he should have made them cook for us." All his subsequent conduct showed him to be

Many of the African women are particular about the water they use for drinking and cooking, and prefer that

which is filtered through sand. To secure this, they scrape holes in the sandbanks beside the stream, and

scoop up the water, which slowly filters through, rather than take it from the equally clear and limpid river.

This practice is common in the Zambesi, the Rovuma, and Lake Nyassa; and some of the Portuguese at Tette

have adopted the native custom, and send canoes to a low island in the middle of the river for water. Chitora's

people also obtained their supply from shallow wells in the sandy bed of a small rivulet close to the village.

The habit may have arisen from observing the unhealthiness of the main stream at certain seasons. During

nearly nine months in the year, ordure is deposited around countless villages along the thousands of miles

drained by the Zambesi. When the heavy rains come down, and sweep the vast fetid accumulation into the

torrents, the water is polluted with filth; and, but for the precaution mentioned, the natives would prove

themselves as little fastidious as those in London who drink the abomination poured into the Thames by

Reading and Oxford. It is no wonder that sailors suffered so much from fever after drinking African river

water, before the present admirable system of condensing it was adopted in our navy.

The scent of man is excessively terrible to game of all kinds, much more so, probably, than the sight of him.

A herd of antelopes, a hundred yards off, gazed at us as we moved along the winding path, and timidly stood

their ground until half our line had passed, but darted off the instant they "got the wind," or caught the flavour

of those who had gone by. The sport is all up with the hunter who gets to the windward of the African beast,

as it cannot stand even the distant aroma of the human race, so much dreaded by all wild animals. Is this the

fear and the dread of man, which the Almighty said to Noah was to be upon every beast of the field? A lion

may, while lying in wait for his prey, leap on a human being as he would on any other animal, save a

rhinoceros or an elephant, that happened to pass; or a lioness, when she has cubs, might attack a man, who,

passing "up the wind of her," had unconsciously, by his scent, alarmed her for the safety of her whelps; or

buffaloes, amid other animals, might rush at a line of travellers, in apprehension of being surrounded by

them; but neither beast nor snake will, as a general rule, turn on man except when wounded, or by mistake. If

gorillas, unwounded, advance to do battle with him, and beat their breasts in defiance, they are an exception

to all wild beasts known to us. From the way an elephant runs at the first glance of man, it is inferred that this

Our two donkeys caused as much admiration as the three white men. Great was the astonishment when one of

the donkeys began to bray. The timid jumped more than if a lion had roared beside them. All were startled,

and stared in mute amazement at the harshvoiced one, till the last broken note was uttered; then, on being

assured that nothing in particular was meant, they looked at each other, and burst into a loud laugh at their

common surprise. When one donkey stimulated the other to try his vocal powers, the interest felt by the

startled visitors, must have equalled that of the Londoners, when they first crowded to see the famous

We were now, when we crossed the boundary rivulet Nyamatarara, out of Chicova and amongst sandstone

rocks, similar to those which prevail between Lupata and Kebrabasa. In the latter gorge, as already

mentioned, igneous and syenitic masses have been acted on by some great fiery convulsion of nature; the

strata are thrown into a huddled heap of confusion. The coal has of course disappeared in Kebrabasa, but is

found again in Chicova. Tette grey sandstone is common about Sinjere, and wherever it is seen with fossil

wood upon it, coal lies beneath; and here, as at Chicova, some seams crop out on the banks of the Zambesi.

Looking southwards, the country is open plain and woodland, with detached hills and mountains in the

distance; but the latter are too far off, the natives say, for them to know their names. The principal hills on our

right, as we look up stream, are from six to twelve miles away, and occasionally they send down spurs to the

river, with brooks flowing through their narrow valleys. The banks of the Zambesi show two welldefined

terraces; the first, or lowest, being usually narrow, and of great fertility, while the upper one is a dry grassy

plain, a thorny jungle, or a mopane (Bauhinia) forest. One of these plains, near the Kafue, is covered with the

large stumps and trunks of a petrified forest. We halted a couple of days by the fine stream Sinjere, which

comes from the Chirobyroby hills, about eight miles to the north. Many lumps of coal, brought down by the

rapid current, lie in its channel. The natives never seem to have discovered that coal would burn, and, when

informed of the fact, shook their heads, smiled incredulously, and said "Kodi" (really), evidently regarding it

as a mere traveller's tale. They were astounded to see it burning freely on our fire of wood. They told us that

plenty of it was seen among the hills; but, being long ago aware that we were now in an immense coalfield,

A dyke of black basaltic rock, called Kakolole, crosses the river near the mouth of the Sinjere; but it has two

open gateways in it of from sixty to eighty yards in breadth, and the channel is very deep.

On a shallow sandbank, under the dyke, lay a herd of hippopotami in fancied security. The young ones were

playing with each other like young puppies, climbing on the backs of their dams, trying to take hold of one

another by the jaws and tumbling over into the water. Mbia, one of the Makololo, waded across to within a

dozen yards of the drowsy beasts, and shot the father of the herd; who, being very fat, soon floated, and was

secured at the village below. The headman of the village visited us while we were at breakfast. He wore a

black "ife" wig and a printed shirt. After a short silence he said to Masakasa, "You are with the white people,

so why do you not tell them to give me a cloth?" "We are strangers," answered Masakasa, "why do you not

bring us some food?" He took the plain hint, and brought us two fowls, in order that we should not report that

in passing him we got nothing to eat; and, as usual, we gave a cloth in return. In reference to the

hippopotamus he would make no demand, but said he would take what we chose to give him. The men

gorged themselves with meat for two days, and cut large quantities into long narrow strips, which they

halfdried and halfroasted on wooden frames over the fire. Much game is taken in this neighbourhood in

pitfalls. Sharppointed stakes are set in the bottom, on which the game tumbles and gets impaled. The natives

are careful to warn strangers of these traps, and also of the poisoned beams suspended on the tall trees for the

purpose of killing elephants and hippopotami. It is not difficult to detect the pitfalls after one's attention has

been called to them; but in places where they are careful to carry the earth off to a distance, and a person is

not thinking of such things, a sudden descent of nine feet is an experience not easily forgotten by the

traveller. The sensations of one thus instantaneously swallowed up by the earth are peculiar. A momentary

suspension of consciousness is followed by the rustling sound of a shower of sand and dry grass, and the

halfbewildered thought of where he is, and how he came into darkness. Reason awakes to assure him that he

must have come down through that small opening of daylight overhead, and that he is now where a

hippopotamus ought to have been. The descent of a hippopotamus pitfall is easy, but to get out again into the

upper air is a work of labour. The sides are smooth and treacherous, and the cross reeds, which support the

covering, break in the attempt to get out by clutching them. A cry from the depths is unheard by those around,

and it is only by repeated and most desperate efforts that the buried alive can regain the upper world. At Tette

we are told of a white hunter, of unusually small stature, who plumped into a pit while stalking a guineafowl

on a tree. It was the labour of an entire forenoon to get out; and he was congratulating himself on his escape,

and brushing off the clay from his clothes, when down he went into a second pit, which happened, as is often

the case, to be close beside the first, and it was evening before he could work himself out of THAT.

Elephants and buffaloes seldom return to the river by the same path on two successive nights, they become so

apprehensive of danger from this human art. An old elephant will walk in advance of the herd, and uncover

the pits with his trunk, that the others may see the openings and tread on firm ground. Female elephants are

generally the victims: more timid by nature than the males, and very motherly in their anxiety for their calves,

they carry their trunks up, trying every breeze for fancied danger, which often in reality lies at their feet. The

tusker, fearing less, keeps his trunk down, and, warned in time by that exquisitely sensitive organ, takes heed

Our camp on the Sinjere stood under a widespreading wild figtree. From the numbers of this family, of

large size, dotted over the country, the fig or banyan species would seem to have been held sacred in Africa

from the remotest times. The soil teemed with white ants, whose clay tunnels, formed to screen them from the

eyes of birds, thread over the ground, up the trunks of trees, and along the branches, from which the little

architects clear away all rotten or dead wood. Very often the exact shape of branches is left in tunnels on the

ground and not a bit of the wood inside. The first night we passed here these destructive insects ate through

our grassbeds, and attacked our blankets, and certain large redheaded ones even bit our flesh.

On some days not a single white ant is to be seen abroad; and on others, and during certain hours, they appear

out of doors in myriads, and work with extraordinary zeal and energy in carrying bits of dried grass down

into their nests. During these busy reapingfits the lizards and birds have a good time of it, and enjoy a rich

feast at the expense of thousands of hapless workmen; and when they swarm they are caught in countless

numbers by the natives, and their roasted bodies are spoken of in an unctuous manner as resembling grains of

A strong marauding party of large black ants attacked a nest of white ones near the camp: as the contest took

place beneath the surface, we could not see the order of the battle; but it soon became apparent that the blacks

had gained the day, and sacked the white town, for they returned in triumph, bearing off the eggs, and choice

bits of the bodies of the vanquished. A gift, analogous to that of language, has not been withheld from ants: if

part of their building is destroyed, an official is seen coming out to examine the damage; and, after a careful

survey of the ruins, he chirrups a few clear and distinct notes, and a crowd of workers begin at once to repair

the breach. When the work is completed, another order is given, and the workmen retire, as will appear on

removing the soft freshlybuilt portion. We tried to sleep one rainy might in a native hut, but could not

because of attacks by the fighting battalions of a very small species of formica, not more than onesixteenth

of an inch in length. It soon became obvious that they were under regular discipline, and even attempting to

carry out the skilful plans and stratagems of some eminent leader. Our hands and necks were the first objects

of attack. Large bodies of these little pests were massed in silence round the point to be assaulted. We could

hear the sharp shrill word of command two or three times repeated, though until then we had not believed in

the vocal power of an ant; the instant after we felt the storming hosts range over head and neck, biting the

tender skin, clinging with a deathgrip to the hair, and parting with their jaws rather than quit their hold. On

our lying down again in the hope of their having been driven off, no sooner was the light out, and all still,

than the manoeuvre was repeated. Clear and audible orders were issued, and the assault renewed. It was as

hard to sleep in that hut as in the trenches before Sebastopol. The white ant, being a vegetable feeder, devours

articles of vegetable origin only, and leather, which, by tanning, is imbued with a vegetable flavour. "A man

may be rich today and poor tomorrow, from the ravages of white ants," said a Portuguese merchant. "If he

gets sick, and unable to look after his goods, his slaves neglect them, and they are soon destroyed 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 too often; while we

were intent on the game, and without 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

We started from the Sinjere 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 Manyerere 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 spiritrapper's heaven is for the whites. The gardens are

separated from each other by a single 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 hippopotamus, who dreads a trap. His extreme caution is taken advantage of by the women, who hang,

as a miniature trapbeam, a kigelia fruit with a bit of stick in the end. This protects the maize, of which he is

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

mountainranges. Pinkwe, or Mbingwe, otherwise Moeu, forms the southeastern angle of the range. On the

16th June we were at the flourishing 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 sufficiently 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

The villagers reported that we were on the footsteps of a Portuguese halfcaste, who, at Senga, lately tried to

purchase ivory, but, in consequence of his having murdered 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 Sekuanangila, 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

Men and women were busily engaged in preparing the ground for the November planting. Large game was

abundant; herds of elephants and buffaloes came down to the river in the night, but were a long way off by

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 Bungwe, and the long, level, wooded

ridge Nyangombe, the first of a series bending from the S.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 stoneblind 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 female society, he naturally becomes

morose and savage; the necessary watchfulness against enemies is now never 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 wilddog's maw, the better for himself and for the peace of the country.

We encamped on the 20th of June at a spot where Dr. Livingstone, on his journey from the West to the East

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 perhaps 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 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 wardance. 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

On the 23rd of June we entered Pangola's principal village, which is upwards of a 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 figtree, 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 palmleaf

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 misdemeanours, which would

Pangola arrived, tipsy and talkative."We are friends, we are great friends; I have brought you a basket of

green maizehere it is!" We thanked him, and handed him two fathoms of cotton cloth, four times the

marketvalue of his present. No, he would not take so small a present; he wanted a doublebarrelled

rifleone of Dixon's best. "We are friends, you know; we are all friends together." But although we were

willing 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 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 lower 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 AngloSaxons elsewhere: the notoriously ready worldwide disposition to take an

unfair advantage of a man's necessities shows that the same mean motives are pretty widely diffused 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 Manganja 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 immemorial. 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, undistracted 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 varieties 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 Europeans 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

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 morning, so we went our way; but in a few moments we saw the rifleloving chief approaching with

some armed men. Before meeting us, he left the path and drew up his "following" 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 dumbfoundered, 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 you not see Pangola?" Mbia was

just going by at the time with the donkey, and, proud of every opportunity of airing his small stock of

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 halfcastes from Tette, we

halted for the ferrymen 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 in it. Three halfintoxicated 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 a time; 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 presented 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 a sad 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

in a lawless land. We were all ferried safely across by 8 o'clock in the evening.

In illustration of what takes place where no government, or law exists, the two halfcastes, to whom these

men belonged, left Tette, with four hundred slaves, armed with the old Sepoy Brown Bess, to hunt elephants

and trade in 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 is a sad 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 Namakusuru

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 distinguished strangers, and the

women busied themselves in cooking the best of their provisions for the repast to be set before him. Of this,

and also of the beer, the halfcaste partook heartily. Mpangwe was then asked by Sequasha to allow his men

to fire their guns in amusement. Innocent of any suspicion of treachery, and anxious to hear the report of

firearms, Mpangwe at once gave his consent; and the slaves rose and poured a murderous volley into the

merry group of unsuspecting spectators, instantly killing the chief and twenty of his people. The survivors

fled in 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 halfcaste, "let us divide the land:" and he took the larger

share for himself, and compelled the wouldbe 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 reestablish 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, is 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 having 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 ferryman, which was returned. He thought his master

did perfectly right to kill Mpangwe, when asked to do it for the fee of ten tusks, and he even justified it thus:

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 opposite 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 constantly 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 are not of his tribe." This antislavery character excites

such universal attention, that any missionary who winked at the gigantic evils involved in the slavetrade

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 degrees 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

The buazetrees and bamboos are now seen on the hills; but the jujube or zisyphus, which has evidently been

introduced 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 immediately beyond they ceased to be found. No mangotree either is to be met with beyond this

point, because the Portuguese traders never established themselves anywhere beyond Zumbo. Tsetse 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 lancelike proboscis. The bite is

acute, but the pain is over in a moment; it is followed by a little of the disagreeable itching of the mosquito's

bite. This fly invariably kills all domestic animals except goats and donkeys; man and the wild animals

escape. We ourselves were severely bitten on this pass, and so were our donkeys, but neither suffered from

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 illness 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 degrees 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 unable 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

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 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

Our men in hunting came on an immense herd of buffaloes, 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, firing 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 No. 1 shot he had for killing guineafowl. 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, fortunately,

arrant cowards, and never attack either men or beasts except they can catch them asleep, sick, or at some

other 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 honeyguide 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 nest. 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, but always guided them to a hive of bees, though some had but little honey in store. Has

this peculiar habit of the honeyguide 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? Selfinterest aiding in preservation from danger

seems to be the rule in most cases, as, for instance, in the bird that guards the buffalo and rhinoceros. 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 foe he has neither seen nor heard; for his reward the vigilant little watcher has the

pick of the parasites on 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 are many snakes in parts of this pass; they basked in the warm sunshine, but rustled off through the

leaves as we approached. We observed one morning a small one of a deadly poisonous species, named

Kakone, on a bush by the wayside, 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 lightninglike motion has given rise to the native proverb, that

We slept near the ruined village of the murdered chief, Mpangwe, a lovely spot, with the Zambesi in front,

and extensive 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 specimen of what may be met with where there are no human

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 sleepingplace,

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 guineafowl, 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 turtledoves rise, with great blatter of wing, and fly off to the

trees. Guineafowls, francolins, turtledoves, 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 hillsides. 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

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, 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 annihilating 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 opposite 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. A troop of monkeys, on the edge of the forest, scamper back to its depths on

hearing the loud song of Singeleka, and old surly fellows, catching sight of the human party, insult it with a

loud and angry bark. Early in the afternoon we may see buffaloes again, or other animals. We camp on the

dry higher ground, after, as has happened, driving off a solitary elephant. The nights are warmer now, and

possess nearly as much of interest and novelty as the days. A new world awakes and comes forth, more

numerous, if we may judge by the noise it makes, than that which is abroad by sunlight. Lions and hyenas

roar around us, and sometimes come disagreeably near, though they have never ventured into our midst.

Strange birds sing their agreeable songs, while others scream and call harshly as if in fear or anger.

Marvellous insectsounds fall upon the ear; one, said by natives to proceed from a large beetle, resembles a

succession of measured musical blows upon an anvil, while many others are perfectly indescribable. A little

lemur was once seen to leap about from branch to branch with the agility of a frog; it chirruped like a bird,

and is not larger than a robin red breast. Reptiles, though numerous, seldom troubled us; only two men

suffered from stings, and that very slightly, during the entire journey, the one supposed that he was bitten by

Grassburning has begun, and is producing the blue hazy atmosphere of the American Indian summer, which

in Western Africa is called the "smokes." Miles of fire burn on the mountainsides in the evenings, but go out

during the night. From their height they resemble a broad zigzag line of fire in the heavens.

We slept on the night of the 6th of July on the left bank of the Chongwe, which comes through a gap in the

hills on our right, and is twenty yards wide. A small tribe of the Bazizulu, from the south, under Dadanga,

have recently settled here and built a village. Some of their houses are square, and they seem to be on friendly

terms with the Bakoa, who own the country. They, like the other natives, cultivate cotton, but of a different

species from any we have yet seen in Africa, the staple being very long, and the boll larger than what is

usually met with; the seeds cohere as in the Pernambuco kind. They brought the seed with them from their

own country, the distant mountains of which in the south, still inhabited by their fellow countrymen, who

possess much cattle and use shields, can be seen from this high ground. These people profess to be children

of the great paramount chief, Kwanyakarombe, who is said to be lord of all the Bazizulu. The name of this

tribe is known to geographers, who derive their information from the Portuguese, as the Morusurus, and the

hills mentioned above are said to have been the country of Changamira, the warriorchief of history, whom

no Portuguese ever dared to approach. The Bazizulu seem, by report, to be brave mountaineers; nearer the

river, the Sidima inhabit the plains; just as on the north side, the Babimpe live on the heights, about two days

off, and the Makoa on or near the river. The chief of the Bazizulu we were now with was hospitable and

friendly. A herd of buffaloes came trampling through the gardens and roused up our men; a feat that roaring

Our course next day passed over the upper terrace and through a dense thorn jungle. Travelling is always

difficult where there is no path, but it is even more perplexing where the forest is cut up by many

gametracks. Here we got separated from one another, and a rhinoceros with angry snort dashed at Dr.

Livingstone as he stooped to pick up a specimen of the wild fruit morula; but she strangely stopped

stockstill when less than her own length distant, and gave him time to escape; a branch pulled out his watch

as he ran, and turning half round to grasp it, he got a distant glance of her and her calf still standing on the

selfsame spot, as if arrested in the middle of her charge by an unseen hand. When about fifty yards off,

thinking his companions close behind, he shouted "Look out there!" when off she rushed, snorting loudly, in

another direction. The Doctor usually went unarmed before this, but never afterwards.

A fine eland was shot by Dr. Kirk this afternoon, the first we have killed. It was in firstrate condition, and

remarkably fat; but the meat, though so tempting in appearance, severely deranged all who partook of it

heartily, especially those who ate of the fat. Natives who live in game countries, and are acquainted with the

different kinds of wild animals, have a prejudice against the fat of the eland, the pallah, the zebra,

hippopotamus, and pig; they never reject it, however, the climate making the desire for all animal food very

strong; but they consider that it causes ulcers and leprosy, while the fat of sheep and of oxen never produces

On the morning of the 9th, after passing four villages, we breakfasted at an old friend's, Tombanyama, who

lives now on the mainland, having resigned the reedy island, where he was first seen, to the buffaloes, which

used to take his crops and show fight to his men. He keeps a large flock of tame pigeons, and some fine fat

capons, one of which he gave us, with a basket of meal. They have plenty of salt in this part of the country,

The halfcaste partner of Sequasha and a number of his men were staying near. The fellow was very munch

frightened when he saw us, and trembled so much when he spoke, that the Makololo and other natives

noticed and remarked on it. His fears arose from a sense of guilt, as we said nothing to frighten him, and did

not allude to the murder till a few minutes before starting; when it was remarked that Dr. Livingstone having

been accredited to the murdered chief, it would be his duty to report on it; and that not even the Portuguese

Government would approve of the deed. He defended it by saying that they had put in the right man, the other

was a usurper. He was evidently greatly relieved when we departed. In the afternoon we came to an outlying

hamlet of Kambadzo, whose own village is on an island, Nyampungo, or Nyangalule, at the confluence of the

Kafue. The chief was on a visit here, and they had been enjoying a regular jollification. There had been much

mirth, music, drinking, and dancing. The men, and women too, had taken "a wee drap too much," but had not

passed the complimentary stage. The wife of the headman, after looking at us a few moments, called out to

the others, "Black traders have come before, calling themselves Bazungu, or white men, but now, for the first

time, have we seen the real Bazungu." Kambadzo also soon appeared; he was sorry that we had not come

before the beer was all done, but he was going back to see if it was all really and entirely finished, and not

This was, of course, mere characteristic politeness, as he was perfectly aware that every drop had been

swallowed; so we proceeded on to the Kafue, or Kafuje, accompanied by the most intelligent of his headmen.

A high ridge, just before we reached the confluence, commands a splendid view of the two great rivers, and

the rich country beyond. Behind, on the north and east, is the high mountain range, along whose base we

have been travelling; the whole range is covered with trees, which appear even on the prominent peaks,

Chiarapela, Morindi, and Chiava; at this last the chain bends away to the N.W., and we could see the distant

On the 9th of July we tried to send Semalembue a present, but the people here refused to incur the

responsibility of carrying it. We, who have the art of writing, cannot realize the danger one incurs of being

accused of purloining a portion of goods sent from one person to another, when the carrier cannot prove that

he delivered all committed to his charge. Rumours of a foray having been made, either by Makololo or

Batoka, as far as the fork of the Kafue, were received here by our men with great indignation, as it looked as

if the marauders were shutting up the country, which they had been trying so much to open. Below the

junction of the rivers, on a shallow sandbank, lay a large herd of hippopotami, their bodies out of the water,

like masses of black rock. Kambadzo's island, called Nyangalule, a name which occurs again at the mouth of

the Zambesi, has many choice Motsikiri (Trachelia) trees on it; and four very conspicuous stately palms

growing out of a single stem. The Kafue reminds us a little of the Shire, flowing between steep banks, with

fertile land on both sides. It is a smaller river, and has less current. Here it seems to come from the west. The

headman of the village, near which we encamped, brought a present of meal, fowls, and sweet potatoes. They

have both the red and white varieties of this potato. We have, on several occasions during this journey, felt

the want of vegetables, in a disagreeable craving which our diet of meat and native meal could not satisfy. It

became worse and worse till we got a meal of potatoes, which allayed it at once. A great scarcity of

vegetables prevails in these parts of Africa. The natives collect several kinds of wild plants in the woods,

which they use no doubt for the purpose of driving off cravings similar to those we experienced.

Owing to the strength of the wind, and the cranky state of the canoes, it was late in the afternoon of the 11th

before our party was ferried over the Kafue. After crossing, we were in the Bawe country. Fishhooks here, of

native workmanship, were observed to have barbs like the European hooks: elsewhere the point of the hook is

merely bent in towards the shank, to have the same effect in keeping on the fish as the barb. We slept near a

village a short distance above the ford. The people here are of Batoka origin, the same as many of our men,

and call themselves Batonga (independents), or Balengi, and their language only differs slightly from that of

the Bakoa, who live between the two rivers Kafue and Loangwa. The paramount chief of the district lives to

the west of this place, and is called Nchomokela an hereditary title: the family buryingplace is on a small

hill near this village. The women salute us by clapping their hands and lullilooing as we enter and leave a

village, and the men, as they think, respectfully clap their hands on their hips. Immense crops of mapira

(holcus sorghum) are raised; one species of it forms a natural bend on the seedstalk, so that the massive ear

hangs down. The grain was heaped up on wooden stages, and so was a variety of other products. The men are

skilful hunters, and kill elephants and buffaloes with long heavy spears. We halted a few minutes on the

morning of the 12th July, opposite the narrow island of Sikakoa, which has a village on its lower end. We

were here told that Moselekatse's chief town is a month's distance from this place. They had heard, moreover,

that the English had come to Moselekatse, and told him it was wrong to kill men; and he had replied that he

was born to kill people, but would drop the habit; and, since the English came, he had sent out his men, not to

kill as of yore, but to collect tribute of cloth and ivory. This report referred to the arrival of the Rev. R.

Moffat, of Kuruman, who, we afterwards found, had established a mission. The statement is interesting as

showing that, though imperfectly expressed, the purport of the missionaries' teaching had travelled, in a short

time, over 300 miles, and we know not how far the knowledge of the English operations on the coast spread

When abreast of the high wooded island Kalabi we came in contact with one of the gamelaws of the

country, which has come down from the most ancient times. An old buffalo crossed the path a few yards in

front of us; our guide threw his small spear at its hip, and it was going off scarcely hurt, when three rifle balls

knocked it over. "It is mine," said the guide. He had wounded it first, and the established native gamelaw is

that the animal belongs to the man who first draws blood; the two legs on one side, by the same law,

belonged to us for killing it. This beast was very old, blind of one eye, and scabby; the horns, mere stumps,

not a foot long, must have atrophied, when by age he lost the strength distinctive of his sex; some eighteen or

twenty inches of horn could not well be worn down by mere rubbing against the trees. We saw many

buffaloes next day, standing quietly amidst a thick thornjungle, through which we were passing. They often

On the 14th July we left the river at the mountainrange, which, lying northeast and southwest across the

river, forms the Kariba gorge. Near the upper end of the Kariba rapids, the stream Sanyati enters from the

south, and is reported to have Moselekatse's principal cattleposts at its sources; our route went round the end

of the mountains, and we encamped beside the village of the generous chief Moloi, who brought us three

immense baskets of fine mapira meal, ten fowls, and two pots of beer. On receiving a present in return, he

rose, and, with a few dancing gestures, said or sang, "Motota, Motota, Motota," which our men translated into

"thanks." He had visited Moselekatse a few months before our arrival, and saw the English missionaries,

living in their wagons. "They told Moselekatse," said he, "they were of his family, or friends, and would

plough the land and live at their own expense;" and he had replied, "The land is before you, and I shall come

and see you plough." This again was substantially what took place, when Mr. Moffat introduced the

missionaries to his old friend, and shows still further that the notion of losing their country by admitting

foreigners does not come as the first idea to the native mind. One might imagine that, as mechanical powers

are unknown to the heathen, the almost magic operations of machinery, the discoveries of modern science

and art, or the presence of the prodigious force which, for instance, is associated with the sight of a

manofwar, would have the effect which miracles once had of arresting the attention and inspiring awe.

But, though we have heard the natives exclaim in admiration at the sight of even small illustrations of what

science enables us to do"Ye are gods, and not men"the heart is unaffected. In attempting their moral

elevation, it is always more conducive to the end desired, that the teacher should come unaccompanied by

any power to cause either jealousy or fear. The heathen, who have not become aware of the greed and hate

which too often characterize the advancing tide of emigration, listen with most attention to the message of

Divine love when delivered by men who evidently possess the same human sympathies with themselves. A

chief is rather envied his good fortune in first securing foreigners in his town. Jealousy of strangers belongs

more to the Arab than to the African character; and if the women are let alone by the traveller, no danger

need be apprehended from any save the slavetrading tribes, and not often even from them.

We passed through a fertile country, covered with open forest, accompanied by the friendly Bawe. They are

very hospitable; many of them were named, among themselves, "the Baenda pezi," or "Gonakeds," their

only clothing being a coat of red ochre. Occasionally stopping at their villages we were duly lullilooed, and

regaled with sweet newmade beer, which, being yet unfermented, was not intoxicating. It is in this state

called Liting or Makonde. Some of the men carry large shields of buffalohide, and all are well supplied with

heavy spears. The vicinity of the villages is usually cleared and cultivated in large patches; but nowhere can

the country be said to be stocked with people. At every village stands were erected, and piles of the native

corn, still unthrashed, placed upon them; some had been beaten out, put into oblong parcels made of grass,

We crossed several rivulets in our course, as the Mandora, the Lofia, the Manzaia (with brackish water), the

Rimbe, the Chibue, the Chezia, the Chilola (containing fragments of coal), which did little more than mark

our progress. The island and rapid of Nakansalo, of which we had formerly heard, were of no importance, the

rapid being but half a mile long, and only on one side of the island. The island Kaluzi marks one of the

numerous places where astronomical observations were made; Mozia, a station where a volunteer poet left

us; the island Mochenya, and Mpande island, at the mouth of the Zungwe rivulet, where we left the Zambesi.

When favoured with the hospitality and company of the "Gonakeds," we tried to discover if nudity were the

badge of a particular order among the Bawe, but they could only refer to custom. Some among them had

always liked it for no reason in particular: shame seemed to lie dormant, and the sense could not be aroused

by our laughing and joking them on their appearance. They evidently felt no less decent than we did with our

clothes on; but, whatever may be said in favour of nude statues, it struck us that man, in a state of nature, is a

most ungainly animal. Could we see a number of the degraded of our own lower classes in like guise, it is

probable that, without the black colour which acts somehow as a dress, they would look worse still.

In domestic contentions the Bawe are careful not to kill each other; but, when one village goes to war with

another, they are not so particular. The victorious party are said to quarter one of the bodies of the enemies

they may have killed, and to perform certain ceremonies over the fragments. The vanquished call upon their

conquerors to give them a portion also; and, when this request is complied with, they too perform the same

ceremonies, and lament over their dead comrade, after which the late combatants may visit each other in

peace. Sometimes the head of the slain is taken and buried in an anthill, till all the flesh is gone; and the

lower jaw is then worn as a trophy by the slayer; but this we never saw, and the foregoing information was

We left the Zambesi at the mouth of the Zungwe or Mozama or Dela rivulet, up which we proceeded, first in

a westerly and then in a northwesterly direction. The Zungwe at this time had no water in its sandy channel

for the first eight or ten miles. Willows, however, grow on the banks, and water soon began to appear in the

hollows; and a few miles further up it was a fine flowing stream deliciously cold. As in many other streams

from Chicova to near Sinamane shale and coal crop out in the bank; and here the large roots of stigmaria or

its allied plants were found. We followed the course of the Zungwe to the foot of the Batoka highlands, up

whose steep and rugged sides of red and white quartz we climbed till we attained an altitude of upwards of

3000 feet. Here, on the cool and bracing heights, the exhilaration of mind and body was delightful, as we

looked back at the hollow beneath covered with a hot sultry glare, not unpleasant now that we were in the

mild radiance above. We had a noble view of the great valley in which the Zambesi flows. The cultivated

portions are so small in comparison to the rest of the landscape that the valley appears nearly all forest, with a

few grassy glades. We spent the night of the 28th July high above the level of the sea, by the rivulet Tyotyo,

near Tabacheu or Chirebuechina, names both signifying white mountain; in the morning hoar frost covered

the ground, and thin ice was on the pools. Skirting the southern flank of Tabacheu, we soon passed from the

hills on to the portion of the vast tableland called Mataba, and looking back saw all the way across the

Zambesi valley to the lofty ridge some thirty miles off, which, coming from the Mashona, a country in the

S.E., runs to the N.W. to join the ridge at the angle of which are the Victoria Falls, and then bends far to the

N.E. from the same point. Only a few years since these extensive highlands were peopled by the Batoka;

numerous herds of cattle furnished abundance of milk, and the rich soil amply repaid the labour of the

husbandman; now large herds of buffaloes, zebras, and antelopes fatten on the excellent pasture; and on that

land, which formerly supported multitudes, not a man is to been seen. In travelling from Monday morning till

late on Saturday afternoon, all the way from Tabacheu to Moachemba, which is only twentyone miles of

latitude from the Victoria Falls, and constantly passing the ruined sites of utterly deserted Botoka villages, we

did not fall in with a single person. The Batoka were driven out of their noble country by the invasions of

Moselekatse and Sebetuane. Several tribes of Bechuana and Basutu, fleeing from the Zulu or Matebele chief

Moselekatse reached the Zambesi above the Falls. Coming from a land without rivers, none of them knew

how to swim; and one tribe, called the Bamangwato, wishing to cross the Zambesi, was ferried over, men and

women separately, to different islands, by one of the Batoka chiefs; the men were then left to starve and the

women appropriated by the ferryman and his people. Sekomi, the present chief of the Bamangwato, then an

infant in his mother's arms, was enabled, through the kindness of a private Batoka, to escape. This act seems

to have made an indelible impression on Sekomi's heart, for though otherwise callous, he still never fails to

Sebetuane, with his wonted ability, outwitted the treacherous Batoka, by insisting in the politest manner on

their chief remaining at his own side until the people and cattle were all carried safe across; the chief was

then handsomely rewarded, both with cattle and brass rings off Sebetuane's own wives. No sooner were the

Makololo, then called Basuto, safely over, than they were confronted by the whole Batoka nation; and to this

day the Makololo point with pride to the spot on the Lekone, near to which they were encamped, where

Sebetuane, with a mere handful of warriors in comparison to the vast horde that surrounded him, stood

waiting the onslaught, the warriors in one small body, the women and children guarding the cattle behind

them. The Batoka, of course, melted away before those who had been made veterans by years of continual

fighting, and Sebetuane always justified his subsequent conquests in that country by alleging that the Batoka

had come out to fight with a man fleeing for his life, who had never done them any wrong. They seem never

to have been a warlike race; passing through their country, we once observed a large stone cairn, and our

guide favoured us with the following account of it: "Once upon a time, our forefathers were going to fight

another tribe, and here they halted and sat down. After a long consultation, they came to the unanimous

conclusion that, instead of proceeding to fight and kill their neighbours, and perhaps be killed themselves, it

would be more like men to raise this heap of stones, as their protest against the wrong the other tribe had

done them, which, having accomplished, they returned quietly home." Such men of peace could not stand

before the Makololo, nor, of course, the more warlike Matebele, who coming afterwards, drove even their

conquerors, the Makololo, out of the country. Sebetuane, however, profiting by the tactics which he had

learned of the Batoka, inveigled a large body of this new enemy on to another island, and after due starvation

there overcame the whole. A much greater army of "Moselekatse's own" followed with canoes, but were now

baffled by Sebetuane's placing all his people and cattle on an island and so guarding it that none could

approach. Dispirited, famished, borne down by fever, they returned to the Falls, and all except five were cut

But though the Batoka appear never to have had much inclination to fight with men, they are decidedly brave

hunters of buffaloes and elephants. They go fearlessly close up to these formidable animals, and kill them

with large spears. The Banyai, who have long bullied all Portuguese traders, were amazed at the daring and

bravery of the Batoka in coming at once to close quarters with the elephant; and Chisaka, a Portuguese rebel,

having formerly induced a body of this tribe to settle with him, ravaged all the Portuguese villas around Tette.

They bear the name of Basimilongwe, and some of our men found relations among them. Sininyane and

Matenga also, two of our party, were once inveigled into a Portuguese expedition against Mariano, by the

assertion that the Doctor had arrived and had sent for them to come down to Senna. On finding that they were

entrapped to fight, they left, after seeing an officer with a large number of Tette slaves killed.

The Batoka had attained somewhat civilized ideas, in planting and protecting various fruit and oilseed

yielding trees of the country. No other tribe either plants or abstains from cutting down fruit trees, but here

we saw some which had been planted in regular rows, and the trunks of which were quite two feet in

diameter. The grand old Mosibe, a tree yielding a bean with a thin red pellicle, said to be very fattening, had

probably seen two hundred summers. Dr. Kirk found that the Mosibe is peculiar, in being allied to a species

met with only in the West Indies. The Motsikiri, sometimes called Mafuta, yields a hard fat, and an oil which

is exported from Inhambane. It is said that two ancient Batoka travellers went down as far as the Loangwa,

and finding the Macaa tree (jujube or zisyphus) in fruit, carried the seed all the way back to the great Falls, in

order to plant them. Two of these trees are still to be seen there, the only specimens of the kind in that region.

The Batoka had made a near approach to the custom of more refined nations and had permanent graveyards,

either on the sides of hills, thus rendered sacred, or under large old shady trees; they reverence the tombs of

their ancestors, and plant the largest elephants' tusks, as monuments at the head of the grave, or entirely

enclose it with the choicest ivory. Some of the other tribes throw the dead body into the river to be devoured

by crocodiles, or, sewing it up in a mat, place it on the branch of a baobab, or cast it in some lonely gloomy

spot, surrounded by dense tropical vegetation, where it affords a meal to the foul hyenas; but the Batoka

reverently bury their dead, and regard the spot henceforth as sacred. The ordeal by the poison of the muave is

resorted to by the Batoka, as well as by the other tribes; but a cock is often made to stand proxy for the

supposed witch. Near the confluence of the Kafue the Mambo, or chief, with some of his headmen, came to

our sleepingplace with a present; their foreheads were smeared with white flour, and an unusual seriousness

marked their demeanour. Shortly before our arrival they had been accused of witchcraft; conscious of

innocence, they accepted the ordeal, and undertook to drink the poisoned muave. For this purpose they made

a journey to the sacred hill of Nchomokela, on which repose the bodies of their ancestors; and, after a solemn

appeal to the unseen spirits to attest the innocence of their children, they swallowed the muave, vomited, and

were therefore declared not guilty. It is evident that they believe that the soul has a continued existence; and

that the spirits of the departed know what those they have left behind them are doing, and are pleased or not

according as their deeds are good or evil; this belief is universal. The owner of a large canoe refused to sell it,

because it belonged to the spirit of his father, who helped him when he killed the hippopotamus. Another,

when the bargain for his canoe was nearly completed, seeing a large serpent on a branch of the tree overhead,

refused to complete the sale, alleging that this was the spirit of his father come to protest against it.

Some of the Batoka chiefs must have been men of considerable enterprise; the land of one, in the western part

of this country, was protected by the Zambesi on the S., and on the N. and E. lay an impassable reedy marsh,

filled with water all the year round, leaving only his western border open to invasion: he conceived the idea

of digging a broad and deep canal nearly a mile in length, from the reedy marsh to the Zambesi, and, having

actually carried the scheme into execution, he formed a large island, on which his cattle grazed in safety, and

Another chief, who died a number of years ago, believed that he had discovered a remedy for tsetsebitten

cattle; his son Moyara showed us a plant, which was new to our botanist, and likewise told us how the

medicine was prepared; the bark of the root, and, what might please our homoeopathic friends, a dozen of the

tsetse are dried, and ground together into a fine powder. This mixture is administered internally; and the cattle

are fumigated by burning under them the rest of the plant collected. The treatment must be continued for

weeks, whenever the symptoms of poison appear. This medicine, he frankly admitted, would not cure all the

bitten cattle. "For," said he, "cattle, and men too, die in spite of medicine; but should a herd by accident stray

into a tsetse district and be bitten, by this medicine of my father, Kampakampa, some of them could be

saved, while, without it, all would inevitably die." He stipulated that we were not to show the medicine to

other people, and if ever we needed it in this region we must employ him; but if we were far off we might

make it ourselves; and when we saw it cure the cattle think of him, and send him a present.

Our men made it known everywhere that we wished the tribes to live in peace, and would use our influence to

induce Sekeletu to prevent the Batoka of Moshobotwane and the Makololo underchiefs making forays into

their country: they had already suffered severely, and their remonstrances with their countryman,

Moshobotwane, evoked only the answer, "The Makololo have given me a spear; why should I not use it?"

He, indeed, it was who, being remarkably swift of foot, first guided the Makololo in their conquest of the

country. In the character of peacemakers, therefore, we experienced abundant hospitality; and, from the

Kafue to the Falls, none of our party was allowed to suffer hunger. The natives sent to our sleepingplaces

generous presents of the finest white meal, and fat capons to give it a relish, great pots of beer to comfort our

hearts, together with pumpkins, beans, and tobacco, so that we "should sleep neither hungry nor thirsty."

In travelling from the Kafue to the Zungwe we frequently passed several villages in the course of a day's

march. In the evening came deputies from the villages, at which we could not stay to sleep, with liberal

presents of food. It would have pained them to have allowed strangers to pass without partaking of their

hospitality; repeatedly were we hailed from huts, and asked to wait a moment and drink a little of the beer,

which was brought with alacrity. Our march resembled a triumphant procession. We entered and left every

village amidst the cheers of its inhabitants; the men clapping their hands, and the women lullilooing, with the

shrill call, "Let us sleep," or "Peace." Passing through a hamlet one day, our guide called to the people, "Why

do you not clap your hands and salute when you see men who are wishing to bring peace to the land?" When

we halted for the night it was no uncommon thing for the people to prepare our camp entirely of their own

accord; some with hoes quickly smoothed the ground for our beds, others brought dried grass and spread it

carefully over the spot; some with their small axes speedily made a bush fence to shield us from the wind;

and if, as occasionally happened, the water was a little distance off, others hastened and brought it with

firewood to cook our food with. They are an industrious people, and very fond of agriculture. For hours

together we marched through unbroken fields of mapira, or native corn, of a great width; but one can give no

idea of the extent of land under the hoe as compared with any European country. The extent of surface is so

great that the largest fields under culture, when viewed on a wide landscape, dwindle to mere spots. When

taken in connection with the wants of the people, the cultivation on the whole is most creditable to their

industry. They erect numerous granaries which give their villages the appearance of being large; and, when

the water of the Zambesi has subsided, they place large quantities of grain, tied up in bundles of grass, and

well plastered over with clay, on low sand islands for protection from the attacks of marauding mice and

men. Owing to the ravages of the weevil, the native corn can hardly be preserved until the following crop

comes in. However largely they may cultivate, and however abundant the harvest, it must all be consumed in

a year. This may account for their making so much of it into beer. The beer these Batoka or Bawe brew is not

the sour and intoxicating boala or pombe found among some other tribes, but sweet, and highly nutritive,

with only a slight degree of acidity, sufficient to render it a pleasant drink. The people were all plump, and in

good condition; and we never saw a single case of intoxication among them, though all drank abundance of

this liting, or sweet beer. Both men and boys were eager to work for very small pay. Our men could hire any

number of them to carry their burdens for a few beads a day. Our miserly and dirty excook had an old pair

of trousers that some one had given to him; after he had long worn them himself, with one of the sorely

decayed legs he hired a man to carry his heavy load a whole day; a second man carried it the next day for the

other leg, and what remained of the old garment, without the buttons, procured the labour of another man for

Men of remarkable ability have risen up among the Africans from time to time, as amongst other portions of

the human family. Some have attracted the attention, and excited the admiration of large districts by their

wisdom. Others, apparently by the powers of ventriloquism, or by peculiar dexterity in throwing the spear, or

shooting with the bow, have been the wonder of their generation; but the total absence of literature leads to

the loss of all former experience, and the wisdom of the wise has not been handed down. They have had their

minstrels too, but mere tradition preserves not their effusions. One of these, and apparently a genuine poet,

attached himself to our party for several days, and whenever we halted, sang our praises to the villagers, in

smooth and harmonious numbers. It was a sort of blank verse, and each line consisted of five syllables. The

song was short when it first began, but each day he picked up more information about us, and added to the

poem until our praises became an ode of respectable length. When distance from home compelled his return

he expressed his regret at leaving us, and was, of course, paid for his useful and pleasant flatteries. Another,

though a less gifted son of song, belonged to the Batoka of our own party. Every evening, while the others

were cooking, talking, or sleeping, he rehearsed his songs, containing a history of everything he had seen in

the land of the white men, and on the way back. In composing, extempore, any new piece, he was never at a

loss; for if the right word did not come he halted not, but eked out the measure with a peculiar musical sound

meaning nothing at all. He accompanied his recitations on the sansa, an instrument figured in the woodcut,

the nine iron keys of which are played with the thumbs, while the fingers pass behind to hold it. The hollow

end and ornaments face the breast of the player. Persons of a musical turn, if too poor to buy a sansa, may be

seen playing vigorously on an instrument made with a number of thick cornstalks sewn together, as a sansa

frame, and keys of split bamboo, which, though making but little sound, seems to soothe the player himself.

When the instrument is played with a calabash as a sounding board, it emits a greater volume of sound.

Pieces of shells and tin are added to make a jingling accompaniment, and the calabash is also ornamented.

After we had passed up, a party of slaves, belonging to the two native Portuguese who assassinated the chief,

Mpangwe, and took possession of his lands at Zumbo, followed on our footsteps, and representing

themselves to be our "children," bought great quantities of ivory from the Bawe, for a few coarse beads a

tusk. They also purchased ten large new canoes to carry it, at the rate of six strings of red or white beads, or

two fathoms of grey calico, for each canoe, and, at the same cheap rate, a number of goodlooking girls.

The Victoria Falls of the ZambesiMarvellous grandeur of the CataractsThe Makololo's townThe

During the time we remained at Motunta a splendid meteor was observed to lighten the whole heavens. The

observer's back was turned to it, but on looking round the streak of light was seen to remain on its path some

seconds. This streak is usually explained to be only the continuance of the impression made by the shining

body on the retina. This cannot be, as in this case the meteor was not actually seen and yet the streak was

clearly perceived. The rays of planets and stars also require another explanation than that usually given.

Fruittrees and gigantic wild figtrees, and circles of stones on which corn safes were placed, with worn

grindstones, point out where the villages once stood. The only reason now assigned for this fine country

remaining desolate is the fear of fresh visitations by the Matebele. The country now slopes gradually to the

west into the Makololo Valley. Two days' march from the Batoka village nearest the highlands, we met with

some hunters who were burning the dry grass, in order to attract the game by the fresh vegetation which

speedily springs up afterwards. The grass, as already remarked, is excellent for cattle. One species, with

leaves having finely serrated edges, and of a reddishbrown colour, we noticed our men eating: it tastes

exactly like liquoriceroot, and is named kezukezu. The tsetse, known to the Batoka by the name "ndoka,"

A small trap in the path, baited with a mouse, to catch spotted cats (F. Genetta), is usually the first indication

that we are drawing near to a village; but when we get within the sounds of pounding corn, cockcrowing, or

the merry shouts of children at play, we know that the huts are but a few yards off, though the trees conceal

them from view. We reached, on the 4th of August, Moachemba, the first of the Batoka villages which now

owe allegiance to Sekeletu, and could see distinctly with the naked eye, in the great valley spread out before

us, the columns of vapour rising from the Victoria Falls, though upwards of 20 miles distant. We were

informed that, the rains having failed this year, the corn crops had been lost, and great scarcity and much

hunger prevailed from Sesheke to Linyanti. Some of the reports which the men had heard from the Batoka of

the hills concerning their families, were here confirmed. Takelang's wife had been killed by Mashotlane, the

headman at the Falls, on a charge, as usual, of witchcraft. Inchikola's two wives, believing him to be dead,

had married again; and Masakasa was intensely disgusted to hear that two years ago his friends, upon a report

of his death, threw his shield over the Falls, slaughtered all his oxen, and held a species of wild Irish wake, in

honour of his memory: he said he meant to disown them, and to say, when they come to salute him, "I am

dead. I am not here. I belong to another world, and should stink if I came among you."

All the sad news we had previously heard, of the disastrous results which followed the attempt of a party of

missionaries, under the Rev. H. Helmore, to plant the gospel at Linyanti, were here fully confirmed. Several

of the missionaries and their native attendants, from Kuruman, had succumbed to the fever, and the survivors

had retired some weeks before our arrival. We remained the whole of the 7th beside the village of the old

Batoka chief, Moshobotwane, the stoutest man we have seen in Africa. The cause of our delay here was a

severe attack of fever in Charles Livingstone. He took a dose of our fever pills; was better on the 8th, and

marched three hours; then on the 9th marched eight miles to the Great Falls, and spent the rest of the day in

the fatiguing exercise of sightseeing. We were in the very same valley as Linyanti, and this was the same

fever which treated, or rather maltreated, with only a little Dover's powder, proved so fatal to poor Helmore;

the symptoms, too, were identical with those afterwards described by nonmedical persons as those of

We gave Moshobotwane a present, and a pretty plain exposition of what we thought of his bloody forays

among his Batoka brethren. A scolding does most good to the recipient, when put alongside some obliging

act. He certainly did not take it ill, as was evident from what he gave us in return; which consisted of a liberal

supply of meal, milk, and an ox. He has a large herd of cattle, and a tract of fine pastureland on the beautiful

stream Lekone. A homefeeling comes over one, even in the interior of Africa, at seeing once more cattle

grazing peacefully in the meadows. The tsetse inhabits the trees which bound the pastureland on the west;

so, should the herdsman forget his duty, the cattle straying might be entirely lost. The women of this village

were more numerous than the men, the result of the chief's marauding. The Batoko wife of Sima came up

from the Falls, to welcome her husband back, bringing a present of the best fruits of the country. Her husband

was the only one of the party who had brought a wife from Tette, namely, the girl whom he obtained from

Chisaka for his feats of dancing. According to our ideas, his first wife could hardly have been pleased at

seeing the second and younger one; but she took her away home with her, while the husband remained with

us. In going down to the Fall village we met several of the real Makololo. They are lighter in colour than the

other tribes, being of a rich warm brown; and they speak in a slow deliberate manner, distinctly pronouncing

every word. On reaching the village opposite Kalai, we had an interview with the Makololo headman,

Mashotlane: he came to the shed in which we were seated, a little boy carrying his low threelegged stool

before him: on this he sat down with becoming dignity, looked round him for a few seconds, then at us, and,

saluting us with "Rumela" (good morning, or hail), he gave us some boiled hippopotamus meat, took a piece

himself, and then handed the rest to his attendants, who soon ate it up. He defended his forays on the ground

that, when he went to collect tribute, the Batoka attacked him, and killed some of his attendants. The excuses

made for their little wars are often the very same as those made by Caesar in his "Commentaries." Few admit,

like old Moshobotwane, that they fought because they had the power, and a fair prospect of conquering. We

found here Pitsane, who had accompanied the Doctor to St. Paul de Loanda. He had been sent by Sekeletu to

purchase three horses from a trading party of Griquas from Kuruman, who charged nine large tusks apiece for

In the evening, when all was still, one of our men, Takelang, fired his musket, and cried out, "I am weeping

for my wife: my court is desolate: I have no home;" and then uttered a loud wail of anguish.

We proceeded next morning, 9th August, 1860, to see the Victoria Falls. Mosioatunya is the Makololo

name and means smoke sounding; Seongo or Chongwe, meaning the Rainbow, or the place of the Rainbow,

was the more ancient term they bore. We embarked in canoes, belonging to Tuba Mokoro, "smasher of

canoes," an ominous name; but he alone, it seems, knew the medicine which insures one against shipwreck in

the rapids above the Falls. For some miles the river was smooth and tranquil, and we glided pleasantly over

water clear as crystal, and past lovely islands densely covered with a tropical vegetation. Noticeable among

the many trees were the lofty Hyphaene and Borassus palms; the graceful wild datepalm, with its fruit in

golden clusters, and the umbrageous mokononga, of cypress form, with its darkgreen leaves and scarlet

fruit. Many flowers peeped out near the water's edge, some entirely new to us, and others, as the convolvulus,

But our attention was quickly called from the charming islands to the dangerous rapids, down which Tuba

might unintentionally shoot us. To confess the truth, the very ugly aspect of these roaring rapids could

scarcely fail to cause some uneasiness in the minds of newcomers. It is only when the river is very low, as it

was now, that any one durst venture to the island to which we were bound. If one went during the period of

flood, and fortunately hit the island, he would be obliged to remain there till the water subsided again, if he

lived so long. Both hippopotami and elephants have been known to be swept over the Falls, and of course

Before entering the race of waters, we were requested not to speak, as our talking might diminish the virtue of

the medicine; and no one with such boiling eddying rapids before his eyes, would think of disobeying the

orders of a "canoesmasher." It soon became evident that there was sound sense in this request of Tuba's,

although the reason assigned was not unlike that of the canoeman from Sesheke, who begged one of our

party not to whistle, because whistling made the wind come. It was the duty of the man at the bow to look out

ahead for the proper course, and when he saw a rock or snag, to call out to the steersman. Tuba doubtless

thought that talking on board might divert the attention of his steersman, at a time when the neglect of an

order, or a slight mistake, would be sure to spill us all into the chafing river. There were places where the

utmost exertions of both men had to be put forth in order to force the canoe to the only safe part of the rapid,

and to prevent it from sweeping down broadside on, where in a twinkling we should have found ourselves

floundering among the plotuses and cormorants, which were engaged in diving for their breakfast of small

fish. At times it seemed as if nothing could save us from dashing in our headlong race against the rocks

which, now that the river was low, jutted out of the water; but just at the very nick of time, Tuba passed the

word to the steersman, and then with ready pole turned the canoe a little aside, and we glided swiftly past the

threatened danger. Never was canoe more admirably managed: once only did the medicine seem to have lost

something of its efficacy. We were driving swiftly down, a black rock over which the white foam flew, lay

directly in our path, the pole was planted against it as readily as ever, but it slipped, just as Tuba put forth his

strength to turn the bow off. We struck hard, and were halffull of water in a moment; Tuba recovered

himself as speedily, shoved off the bow, and shot the canoe into a still shallow place, to bale out the water.

Here we were given to understand that it was not the medicine which was at fault; that had lost none of its

virtue; the accident was owing entirely to Tuba having started without his breakfast. Need it be said we never

We landed at the head of Garden Island, which is situated near the middle of the river and on the lip of the

Falls. On reaching that lip, and peering over the giddy height, the wondrous and unique character of the

It is rather a hopeless task to endeavour to convey an idea of it in words, since, as was remarked on the spot,

an accomplished painter, even by a number of views, could but impart a faint impression of the glorious

scene. The probable mode of its formation may perhaps help to the conception of its peculiar shape. Niagara

has been formed by a wearing back of the rock over which the river falls; and during a long course of ages, it

has gradually receded, and left a broad, deep, and pretty straight trough in front. It goes on wearing back

daily, and may yet discharge the lakes from which its riverthe St. Lawrenceflows. But the Victoria Falls

have been formed by a crack right across the river, in the hard, black, basaltic rock which there formed the

bed of the Zambesi. The lips of the crack are still quite sharp, save about three feet of the edge over which the

river rolls. The walls go sheer down from the lips without any projecting crag, or symptoms of stratification

or dislocation. When the mighty rift occurred, no change of level took place in the two parts of the bed of the

river thus rent asunder, consequently, in coming down the river to Garden Island, the water suddenly

disappears, and we see the opposite side of the cleft, with grass and trees growing where once the river ran,

on the same level as that part of its bed on which we sail. The first crack is, in length, a few yards more than

the breadth of the Zambesi, which by measurement we found to be a little over 1860 yards, but this number

we resolved to retain as indicating the year in which the Fall was for the first time carefully examined. The

main stream here runs nearly north and south, and the cleft across it is nearly east and west. The depth of the

rift was measured by lowering a line, to the end of which a few bullets and a foot of white cotton cloth were

tied. One of us lay with his head over a projecting crag, and watched the descending calico, till, after his

companions had paid out 310 feet, the weight rested on a sloping projection, probably 50 feet from the water

below, the actual bottom being still further down. The white cloth now appeared the size of a crownpiece.

On measuring the width of this deep cleft by sextant, it was found at Garden Island, its narrowest part, to be

eighty yards, and at its broadest somewhat more. Into this chasm, of twice the depth of Niagarafall, the

river, a full mile wide, rolls with a deafening roar; and this is Mosioatunya, or the Victoria Falls.

Looking from Garden Island, down to the bottom of the abyss, nearly half a mile of water, which has fallen

over that portion of the Falls to our right, or west of our point of view, is seen collected in a narrow channel

twenty or thirty yards wide, and flowing at exactly right angles to its previous course, to our left; while the

other half, or that which fell over the eastern portion of the Falls, is seen in the left of the narrow channel

below, coming towards our right. Both waters unite midway, in a fearful boiling whirlpool, and find an outlet

by a crack situated at right angles to the fissure of the Falls. This outlet is about 1170 yards from the western

end of the chasm, and some 600 from its eastern end; the whirlpool is at its commencement. The Zambesi,

now apparently not more than twenty or thirty yards wide, rushes and surges south, through the narrow

escapechannel for 130 yards; then enters a second chasm somewhat deeper, and nearly parallel with the

first. Abandoning the bottom of the eastern half of this second chasm to the growth of large trees, it turns

sharply off to the west, and forms a promontory, with the escapechannel at its point, of 1170 yards long, and

416 yards broad at the base. After reaching this base, the river runs abruptly round the head of another

promontory, and flows away to the east, in a third chasm; then glides round a third promontory, much

narrower than the rest, and away back to the west, in a fourth chasm; and we could see in the distance that it

appeared to round still another promontory, and bend once more in another chasm towards the east. In this

gigantic, zigzag, yet narrow trough, the rocks are all so sharply cut and angular, that the idea at once arises

that the hard basaltic trap must have been riven into its present shape by a force acting from beneath, and that

this probably took place when the ancient inland seas were let off by similar fissures nearer the ocean.

The land beyond, or on the south of the Falls, retains, as already remarked, the same level as before the rent

was made. It is as if the trough below Niagara were bent right and left, several times before it reached the

railway bridge. The land in the supposed bends being of the same height as that above the Fall, would give

standing places, or points of view, of the same nature as that from the railwaybridge, but the nearest would

be only eighty yards, instead of two miles (the distance to the bridge) from the face of the cascade. The tops

of the promontories are in general flat, smooth, and studded with trees. The first, with its base on the east, is

at one place so narrow, that it would be dangerous to walk to its extremity. On the second, however, we

found a broad rhinoceros path and a hut; but, unless the builder were a hermit, with a pet rhinoceros, we

cannot conceive what beast or man ever went there for. On reaching the apex of this second eastern

promontory we saw the great river, of a deep seagreen colour, now sorely compressed, gliding away, at least

Garden Island, when the river is low, commands the best view of the Great Fall chasm, as also of the

promontory opposite, with its grove of large evergreen trees, and brilliant rainbows of threequarters of a

circle, two, three, and sometimes even four in number, resting on the face of the vast perpendicular rock,

down which tiny streams are always running to be swept again back by the upward rushing vapour. But as, at

Niagara, one has to go over to the Canadian shore to see the chief wonderthe Great Horseshoe Fallso

here we have to cross over to Moselekatse's side to the promontory of evergreens, for the best view of the

principal Falls of Mosioatunya. Beginning, therefore, at the base of this promontory, and facing the

Cataract, at the west end of the chasm, there is, first, a fall of thirtysix yards in breadth, and of course, as

they all are, upwards of 310 feet in depth. Then Boaruka, a small island, intervenes, and next comes a great

fall, with a breadth of 573 yards; a projecting rock separates this from a second grand fall of 325 yards broad;

in all, upwards of 900 yards of perennial Falls. Further east stands Garden Island; then, as the river was at its

lowest, came a good deal of the bare rock of its bed, with a score of narrow falls, which, at the time of flood,

constitute one enormous cascade of nearly another halfmile. Near the east end of the chasm are two larger

The whole body of water rolls clear over, quite unbroken; but, after a descent of ten or more feet, the entire

mass suddenly becomes like a huge sheet of driven snow. Pieces of water leap off it in the form of comets

with tails streaming behind, till the whole snowy sheet becomes myriads of rushing, leaping, aqueous comets.

This peculiarity was not observed by Charles Livingstone at Niagara, and here it happens, possibly from the

dryness of the atmosphere, or whatever the cause may be which makes every drop of Zambesi water appear

to possess a sort of individuality. It runs off the ends of the paddles, and glides in beads along the smooth

surface, like drops of quicksilver on a table. Here we see them in a conglomeration, each with a train of pure

white vapour, racing down till lost in clouds of spray. A stone dropped in became less and less to the eye, and

Charles Livingstone had seen Niagara, and gave Mosioatunya the palm, though now at the end of a

drought, and the river at its very lowest. Many feel a disappointment on first seeing the great American Falls,

but Mosioatunya is so strange, it must ever cause wonder. In the amount of water, Niagara probably

excels, though not during the months when the Zambesi is in flood. The vast body of water, separating in the

cometlike forms described, necessarily encloses in its descent a large volume of air, which, forced into the

cleft, to an unknown depth, rebounds, and rushes up loaded with vapour to form the three or even six

columns, as if of steam, visible at the Batoka village Moachemba, twentyone miles distant. On attaining a

height of 200, or at most 300 feet from the level of the river above the cascade, this vapour becomes

condensed into a perpetual shower of fine rain. Much of the spray, rising to the west of Garden Island, falls

on the grove of evergreen trees opposite; and from their leaves, heavy drops are for ever falling, to form

sundry little rills, which, in running down the steep face of rock, are blown off and turned back, or licked off

their perpendicular bed, up into the column from which they have just descended.

The morning sun gilds these columns of watery smoke with all the glowing colours of double or treble

rainbows. The evening sun, from a hot yellow sky, imparts a sulphureous hue, and gives one the impression

that the yawning gulf might resemble the mouth of the bottomless pit. No bird sits and sings on the branches

of the grove of perpetual showers, or ever builds its nest there. We saw hornbills and flocks of little black

weavers flying across from the mainland to the islands, and from the islands to the points of the promontories

and back again, but they uniformly shunned the region of perpetual rain, occupied by the evergreen grove.

The sunshine, elsewhere in this land so overpowering, never penetrates the deep gloom of that shade. In the

presence of the strange Mosioatunya, we can sympathize with those who, when the world was young,

peopled earth, air, and river, with beings not of mortal form. Sacred to what deity would be this awful chasm

The ancient Batoka chieftains used Kazeruka, now Garden Island, and Boaruka, the island further west, also

on the lip of the Falls, as sacred spots for worshipping the Deity. It is no wonder that under the cloudy

columns, and near the brilliant rainbows, with the ceaseless roar of the cataract, with the perpetual flow, as if

pouring forth from the hand of the Almighty, their souls should be filled with reverential awe. It inspired

wonder in the native mind throughout the interior. Among the first questions asked by Sebituane of Mr.

Oswell and Dr. Livingstone, in 1851, was, "Have you any smoke soundings in your country," and "what

causes the smoke to rise for ever so high out of water?" In that year its fame was heard 200 miles off, and it

was approached within two days; but it was seen by no European till 1855, when Dr. Livingstone visited it on

his way to the East Coast. Being then accompanied as far as this Fall by Sekeletu and 200 followers, his stay

was necessarily short; and the two days there were employed in observations for fixing the geographical

position of the place, and turning the showers, that at times sweep from the columns of vapour across the

island, to account, in teaching the Makololo arboriculture, and making that garden from which the natives

named the island; so that he did not visit the opposite sides of the cleft, nor see the wonderful course of the

river beyond the Falls. The hippopotami had destroyed the trees which were then planted; and, though a

strong stockaded hedge was made again, and living orangetrees, cashewnuts, and coffee seeds put in

afresh, we fear that the perseverance of the hippopotami will overcome the obstacle of the hedge. It would

require a resident missionary to rear European fruittrees. The period at which the peach and apricot come

into blossom is about the end of the dry season, and artificial irrigation is necessary. The Batoka, the only

arboriculturists in the country, rear native fruittrees alonethe mosibe, the motsikiri, the boma, and others.

When a tribe takes an interest in trees, it becomes more attached to the spot on which they are planted, and

Where one Englishman goes, others are sure to follow. Mr. Baldwin, a gentleman from Natal, succeeded in

reaching the Falls guided by his pocketcompass alone. On meeting the second subject of Her Majesty, who

had ever beheld the greatest of African wonders, we found him a sort of prisoner at large. He had called on

Mashotlane to ferry him over to the north side of the river, and, when nearly over, he took a bath, by jumping

in and swimming ashore. "If," said Mashotlane, "he had been devoured by one of the crocodiles which

abound there, the English would have blamed us for his death. He nearly inflicted a great injury upon us,

therefore, we said, he must pay a fine." As Mr. Baldwin had nothing with him wherewith to pay, they were

taking care of him till he should receive beads from his wagon, two days distant.

Mashotlane's education had been received in the camp of Sebituane, where but little regard was paid to

human life. He was not yet in his prime, and his fine open countenance presented to us no indication of the

evil influences which unhappily, from infancy, had been at work on his mind. The native eye was more

penetrating than ours; for the expression of our men was, "He has drunk the blood of menyou may see it in

his eyes." He made no further difficulty about Mr. Baldwin; but the week after we left he inflicted a severe

wound on the head of one of his wives with his rhinoceroshorn club. She, being of a good family, left him,

The ground is strewn with agates for a number of miles above the Falls; but the fires, which burn off the grass

yearly, have injured most of those on the surface. Our men were delighted to hear that they do as well as

flints for muskets; and this with the new ideas of the value of gold (dalama) and malachite, that they had

acquired at Tette, made them conceive that we were not altogether silly in picking up and looking at stones.

Marching up the river, we crossed the Lekone at its confluence, about eight miles above the island Kalai, and

went on to a village opposite the Island Chundu. Nambowe, the headman, is one of the Matebele or Zulus,

who have had to flee from the anger of Moselekatse, to take refuge with the Makololo.

We spent Sunday, the 12th, at the village of Molele, a tall old Batoka, who was proud of having formerly

been a great favourite with Sebituane. In coming hither we passed through patches of forest abounding in all

sorts of game. The elephants' tusks, placed over graves, are now allowed to decay, and the skulls, which the

former Batoka stuck on poles to ornament their villages, not being renewed, now crumble into dust. Here the

famine, of which we had heard, became apparent, Molele's people being employed in digging up the tsitla

root out of the marshes, and cutting out the soft core of the young palmtrees, for food.

The village, situated on the side of a wooded ridge, commands an extensive view of a great expanse of

meadow and marsh lying along the bank of the river. On these holmes herds of buffaloes and waterbucks

daily graze in security, as they have in the reedy marshes a refuge into which they can run on the approach of

danger. The pretty little tianyane or ourebi is abundant further on, and herds of blue weldebeests or brindled

gnus (Katoblepas Gorgon) amused us by their fantastic capers. They present a much more ferocious aspect

than the lion himself, but are quite timid. We never could, by waving a red handkerchief, according to the

prescription, induce them to venture near to us. It may therefore be that the red colour excites their fury only

when wounded or hotly pursued. Herds of lechee or lechwe now enliven the meadows; and they and their

younger brother, the graceful poku, smaller, and of a rounder contour, race together towards the grassy fens.

We venture to call the poku after the late Major Vardon, a noblehearted African traveller; but fully

anticipate that some aspiring Nimrod will prefer that his own name should go down to posterity on the back

Midway between Tabacheu and the Great Falls the streams begin to flow westward. On the other side they

begin to flow east. Large round masses of granite, somewhat like old castles, tower aloft about the Kalomo.

The country is an elevated plateau, and our men knew and named the different plains as we passed them by.

On the 13th we met a party from Sekeletu, who was now at Sesheke. Our approach had been reported, and

they had been sent to ask the Doctor what the price of a horse ought to be; and what he said, that they were to

give and no more. In reply they were told that by their having given nine large tusks for one horse before the

Doctor came, the Griquas would naturally imagine that the price was already settled. It was exceedingly

amusing to witness the exact imitation they gave of the swagger of a certain white with whom they had been

dealing, and who had, as they had perceived, evidently wished to assume an air of indifference. Holding up

the head and scratching the beard it was hinted might indicate not indifference, but vermin. It is well that we

do not always know what they say about us. The remarks are often not quite complimentary, and resemble

We made our camp in the afternoon abreast of the large island called Mparira, opposite the mouth of the

Chobe. Francolins, quails, and guineafowls, as well as larger game, were abundant. The Makololo headman,

Mokompa, brought us a liberal present; and in the usual way, which is considered politeness, regretted he had

no milk, as his cows were all dry. We got some honey here from the very small stingless bee, called, by the

Batoka, moandi, and by others, the kokomatsane. This honey is slightly acid, and has an aromatic flavour.

The bees are easily known from their habit of buzzing about the eyes, and tickling the skin by sucking it as

common flies do. The hive has a tube of wax like a quill, for its entrance, and is usually in the hollows of

Mokompa feared that the tribe was breaking up, and lamented the condition into which they had fallen in

consequence of Sekeletu's leprosy; he did not know what was to become of them. He sent two canoes to take

us up to Sesheke; his best canoe had taken ivory up to the chief, to purchase goods of some native traders

from Benguela. Above the Falls the paddlers always stand in the canoes, using long paddles, ten feet in

Mochokotsa, a messenger from Sekeletu, met us on the 17th, with another request for the Doctor to take ivory

and purchase a horse. He again declined to interfere. None were to come up to Sekeletu but the Doctor; and

all the men who had had smallpox at Tette, three years ago, were to go back to Moshobotwane, and he would

sprinkle medicine over them, to drive away the infection, and prevent it spreading in the tribe. Mochokotsa

was told to say to Sekeletu that the disease was known of old to white men, and we even knew the medicine

to prevent it; and, were there any danger now, we should be the first to warn him of it. Why did not he go

himself to have Moshobotwane sprinkle medicine to drive away his leprosy. We were not afraid of his

disease, nor of the fever that had killed the teachers and many Makololo at Linyanti. As this attempt at

quarantine was evidently the suggestion of native doctors to increase their own importance, we added that we

had no food, and would hunt next day for game, and the day after; and, should we be still ordered purification

The message was not all of our dictation, our companions interlarded it with their own indignant protests, and

said some strong things in the Tette dialect about these "doctor things" keeping them back from seeing their

father; when to their surprise Mochokotsa told them he knew every word they were saying, as he was of the

tribe Bazizulu, and defied them to deceive him by any dialect, either of the Mashona on the east, or of the

Mambari on the west. Mochokotsa then repeated our message twice, to be sure that he had it every word, and

went back again. These chiefs' messengers have most retentive memories; they carry messages of

considerable length great distances, and deliver them almost word for word. Two or three usually go together,

and when on the way the message is rehearsed every night, in order that the exact words may be kept to. One

of the native objections to learning to write is, that these men answer the purpose of transmitting intelligence

to a distance as well as a letter would; and, if a person wishes to communicate with any one in the town, the

best way to do so is either to go to or send for him. And as for corresponding with friends very far off, that is

all very well for white people, but the blacks have no friends to whom to write. The only effective argument

for the learning to read is, that it is their duty to know the revelation from their Father in Heaven, as it stands

Our messenger returned on the evening of the following day with "You speak truly," says Sekeletu, "the

disease is old, come on at once, do not sleep in the path; for I am greatly desirous (tlologelecoe) to see the

After Mochokotsa left us, we met some of Mokompa's men bringing back the ivory, as horses were preferred

to the WestCoast goods. They were the bearers of instructions to Mokompa, and as these instructions

illustrate the government of people who have learned scarcely anything from Europeans, they are inserted,

though otherwise of no importance. Mashotlane had not behaved so civilly to Mr. Baldwin as Sekeletu had

ordered him to do to all Englishmen. He had been very uncivil to the messengers sent by Moselekatse with

letters from Mr. Moffat, treated them as spies, and would not land to take the bag until they moved off. On

our speaking to him about this, he justified his conduct on the plea that he was set at the Falls for the very

purpose of watching these, their natural enemies; and how was he to know that they had been sent by Mr.

Moffat? Our men thereupon reported at headquarters that Mashotlane had cursed the Doctor. The

instructions to Mokompa, from Sekeletu, were to "go and tell Mashotlane that he had offended greatly. He

had not cursed Monare (Dr. Livingstone) but Sebituane, as Monare was now in the place of Sebituane, and he

reverenced him as he had done his father. Any fine taken from Mr. Baldwin was to be returned at once, as he

was not a Boer but an Englishman. Sekeletu was very angry, and Mokompa must not conceal the message."

On finding afterwards that Mashotlane's conduct had been most outrageous to the Batoka, Sekeletu sent for

him to come to Sesheke, in order that he might have him more under his own eye; but Mashotlane, fearing

that this meant the punishment of death, sent a polite answer, alleging that he was ill and unable to travel.

Sekeletu tried again to remove Mashotlane from the Falls, but without success. In theory the chief is absolute

and quite despotic; in practice his authority is limited, and he cannot, without occasionally putting refractory

Except the small rapids by Mparira island, near the mouth of the Chobe, the rest of the way to Sesheke by

water is smooth. Herds of cattle of two or three varieties graze on the islands in the river: the Batoka

possessed a very small breed of beautiful shape, and remarkably tame, and many may still be seen; a larger

kind, many of which have horns pendent, and loose at the roots; and a still larger sort, with horns of

extraordinary dimensions,apparently a burden for the beast to carry. This breed was found in abundance at

Lake Ngami. We stopped at noon at one of the cattleposts of Mokompa, and had a refreshing drink of milk.

Men of his standing have usually several herds placed at different spots, and the owner visits each in turn,

while his headquarters are at his village. His son, a boy of ten, had charge of the establishment during his

father's absence. According to Makololo ideas, the cattlepost is the proper school in which sons should be

brought up. Here they receive the right sort of educationthe knowledge of pasture and how to manage

Strong easterly winds blow daily from noon till midnight, and continue till the October or November rains set

in. Whirlwinds, raising huge pillars of smoke from burning grass and weeds, are common in the forenoon.

We were nearly caught in an immense one. It crossed about twenty yards in front of us, the wind apparently

rushing into it from all points of the compass. Whirling round and round in great eddies, it swept up hundreds

of feet into the air a continuous dense dark cloud of the black pulverized soil, mixed with dried grass, off the

plain. Herds of the new antelopes, lechwe, and poku, with the kokong, or gnus, and zebras stood gazing at us

as we passed. The mirage lifted them at times halfway to the clouds, and twisted them and the clumps of

palms into strange unearthly forms. The extensive and rich level plains by the banks, along the sides of which

we paddled, would support a vast population, and might be easily irrigated from the Zambesi. If watered, they

would yield crops all the year round, and never suffer loss by drought. The hippopotamus is killed here with

long lancelike spears. We saw two men, in a light canoe, stealing noiselessly down on one of these animals

thought to be asleep; but it was on the alert, and they had quickly to retreat. Comparatively few of these

animals now remain between Sesheke and the Falls, and they are uncommonly wary, as it is certain death for

On the 18th we entered Sesheke. The old town, now in ruins, stands on the left bank of the river. The people

have built another on the same side, a quarter of a mile higher up, since their headman Moriantsiane was put

to death for bewitching the chief with leprosy. Sekeletu was on the right bank, near a number of temporary

huts. A man hailed us from the chiefs quarters, and requested us to rest under the old Kotla, or public

meetingplace tree. A young Makololo, with the large thighs which Zulus and most of this tribe have,

crossed over to receive orders from the chief, who had not shown himself to the people since he was affected

with leprosy. On returning he ran for Mokele, the headman of the new town, who, after going over to

Sekeletu, came back and conducted us to a small but good hut, and afterwards brought us a fine fat ox, as a

present from the chief. "This is a time of hunger," he said, "and we have no meat, but we expect some soon

from the Barotse Valley." We were entirely out of food when we reached Sesheke. Never was better meat

than that of the ox Sekeletu sent, and infinitely above the flesh of all kinds of game is beef!

A constant stream of visitors rolled in on us the day after our arrival. Several of them, who had suffered

affliction during the Doctor's absence, seemed to be much affected on seeing him again. All were in low

spirits. A severe drought had cut off the crops, and destroyed the pasture of Linyanti, and the people were

scattered over the country in search of wild fruits, and the hospitality of those whose groundnuts (Arachis

hypogoea) had not failed. Sekeletu's leprosy brought troops of evils in its train. Believing himself bewitched,

he had suspected a number of his chief men, and had put some, with their families, to death; others had fled

to distant tribes, and were living in exile. The chief had shut himself up, and allowed no one to come into his

presence but his uncle Mamire. Ponwane, who had been as "head and eyes" to him, had just died; evidence,

he thought, of the potent spells of those who hated all who loved the chief. The country was suffering

grievously, and Sebituane's grand empire was crumbling to pieces. A large body of young Barotse had

revolted and fled to the north; killing a man by the way, in order to put a bloodfeud between Masiko, the

chief to whom they were going, and Sekeletu. The Batoka under Sinamane, and Muemba, were independent,

and Mashotlane at the Falls was setting Sekeletu's authority virtually at defiance. Sebituane's wise policy in

treating the conquered tribes on equal terms with his own Makololo, as all children of the chief, and equally

eligible to the highest honours, had been abandoned by his son, who married none but Makololo women, and

appointed to office none but Makololo men. He had become unpopular among the black tribes, conquered by

the spear but more effectually won by the subsequent wise and just government of his father.

Strange rumours were afloat respecting the unseen Sekeletu; his fingers were said to have grown like eagle's

claws, and his face so frightfully distorted that no one could recognize him. Some had begun to hint that he

might not really be the son of the great Sebituane, the founder of the nation, strong in battle, and wise in the

affairs of state. "In the days of the Great Lion" (Sebituane), said his only sister, Moriantsiane's widow, whose

husband Sekeletu had killed, "we had chiefs and little chiefs and elders to carry on the government, and the

great chief, Sebituane, knew them all, and everything they did, and the whole country was wisely ruled; but

now Sekeletu knows nothing of what his underlings do, and they care not for him, and the Makololo power is

The native doctors had given the case of Sekeletu up. They could not cure him, and pronounced the disease

incurable. An old doctress from the Manyeti tribe had come to see what she could do for him, and on her skill

he now hung his last hopes. She allowed no one to see him, except his mother and uncle, making entire

seclusion from society an essential condition of the much longedfor cure. He sent, notwithstanding, for the

Doctor; and on the following day we all three were permitted to see him. He was sitting in a covered wagon,

which was enclosed by a high wall of closeset reeds; his face was only slightly disfigured by the thickening

of the skin in parts, where the leprosy had passed over it; and the only peculiarity about his hands was the

extreme length of his fingernails, which, however, was nothing very much out of the way, as all the

Makololo gentlemen wear them uncommonly long. He has the quiet, unassuming manners of his father,

Sebituane, speaks distinctly, in a low pleasant voice, and appears to be a sensible man, except perhaps on the

subject of his having been bewitched; and in this, when alluded to, he exhibits as firm a belief as if it were his

monomania. "Moriantsiane, my aunt's husband, tried the bewitching medicine first on his wife, and she is

leprous, and so is her headservant; then, seeing that it succeeded, he gave me a stronger dose in the cooked

flesh of a goat, and I have had the disease ever since. They have lately killed Ponwane, and, as you see, are

now killing me." Ponwane had died of fever a short time previously. Sekeletu asked us for medicine and

medical attendance, but we did not like to take the case out of the hands of the female physician already

employed, it being bad policy to appear to undervalue any of the profession; and she, being anxious to go on

with her remedies, said "she had not given him up yet, but would try for another month; if he was not cured

by that time, then she would hand him over to the white doctors." But we intended to leave the country before

a month was up; so Mamire, with others, induced the old lady to suspend her treatment for a little. She

remained, as the doctors stipulated, in the chief's establishment, and on full pay.

Sekeletu was told plainly that the disease was unknown in our country, and was thought exceedingly

obstinate of cure; that we did not believe in his being bewitched, and we were willing to do all we could to

help him. This was a case for disinterested benevolence; no pay was expected, but considerable risk incurred;

yet we could not decline it, as we had the trading in horses. Having, however, none of the medicines usually

employed in skin diseases with us, we tried the local application of lunar caustic, and hydriodate of potash

internally; and with such gratifying results, that Mamire wished the patient to be smeared all over with a

solution of lunar caustic, which he believed to be of the same nature as the blistering fluid formerly applied to

his own knee by Mr. Oswell. ITS power he considered irresistible, and he would fain have had anything like

It was a time of great scarcity and hunger, but Sekeletu treated us hospitably, preparing tea for us at every

visit we paid him. With the tea we had excellent American biscuit and preserved fruits, which had been

brought to him all the way from Benguela. The fruits he most relished were those preserved in their own

juices; plums, apples, pears, strawberries, and peaches, which we have seen only among Portuguese and

Spaniards. It made us anxious to plant the fruittree seeds we had brought, and all were pleased with the idea

Mokele, the headman of Sesheke, and Sebituane's sister, Manchunyane, were ordered to provide us with

food, as Sekeletu's wives, to whom this duty properly belonged, were at Linyanti. We found a black trader

from the West Coast, and some Griqua traders from the South, both in search of ivory. Ivory is dear at

Sesheke; but cheaper in the Batoka country, from Sinamane's to the Kafue, than anywhere else. The trader

from Benguela took orders for goods for his next year's trip, and offered to bring tea, coffee, and sugar at

cent. per cent. prices. As, in consequence of a hint formerly given, the Makololo had secured all the ivory in

the Batoga country to the east, by purchasing it with hoes, the Benguela traders found it unprofitable to go

thither for slaves. They assured us that without ivory the trade in slaves did not pay. In this way, and by the

orders of Sekeletu, an extensive slavemart was closed. These orders were never infringed except secretly.

Sekeletu was well pleased with the various articles we brought for him, and inquired if a ship could not bring

his sugarmill and the other goods we had been obliged to leave behind at Tette. On hearing that there was a

possibility of a powerful steamer ascending as far as Sinamane's, but never above the Grand Victoria Falls, he

asked, with charming simplicity, if a cannon could not blow away the Falls, so as to allow the vessel to come

To save the tribe from breaking up, by the continual loss of real Makololo, it ought at once to remove to the

healthy Batoka highlands, near the Kafue. Fully aware of this, Sekeletu remarked that all his people, save

two, were convinced that, if they remained in the lowlands, a few years would suffice to cut off all the real

Makololo; they came originally from the healthy South, near the confluence of the Likwa and Namagari,

where fever is almost unknown, and its ravages had been as frightful among them here, as amongst

Europeans on the Coast. Sebituane's sister described its first appearance among the tribe, after their settling in

the Barotse Valley on the Zambesi. Many of them were seized with a shivering sickness, as if from excessive

cold; they had never seen the like before. They made great fires, and laid the shivering wretches down before

them; but, pile on wood as they might, they could not raise heat enough to drive the cold out of the bodies of

the sufferers, and they shivered on till they died. But, though all preferred the highlands, they were afraid to

go there, lest the Matebele should come and rob them of their muchloved cattle. Sebituane, with all his

veterans, could not withstand that enemy; and how could they be resisted, now that most of the brave

warriors were dead? The young men would break, and run away the moment they saw the terrible Matebele,

being as much afraid of them as the black conquered tribes are of the Makololo. "But if the Doctor and his

wife," said the chiefs and counsellors, "would come and live with us, we would remove to the highlands at

once, as Moselekatse would not attack a place where the daughter of his friend, Moffat, was living."

The Makololo are by far the most intelligent and enterprising of the tribes we have met. None but brave and

daring men remained long with Sebituane, his stern discipline soon eradicated cowardice from his army.

Death was the inevitable doom of the coward. If the chief saw a man running away from the fight, he rushed

after him with amazing speed, and cut him down; or waited till he returned to the town, and then summoned

the deserter into his presence. "You did not wish to die on the field, you wished to die at home, did you? you

shall have your wish!" and he was instantly led off and executed. The present race of young men are inferior

in most respects to their fathers. The old Makololo had many manly virtues; they were truthful, and never

stole, excepting in what they considered the honourable way of lifting cattle in fair fight. But this can hardly

be said of their sons; who, having been brought up among the subjected tribes, have acquired some of the

vices peculiar to a menial and degraded race. A few of the old Makololo cautioned us not to leave any of our

property exposed, as the blacks were great thieves; and some of our own men advised us to be on our guard,

as the Makololo also would steal. A very few trifling articles were stolen by a young Makololo; and he, on

being spoken to on the subject, showed great ingenuity in excusing himself, by a plausible and untruthful

story. The Makololo of old were hard workers, and did not consider labour as beneath them; but their sons

never work, regarding it as fit only for the Mashona and Makalaka servants. Sebituane, seeing that the rival

tribes had the advantage over his, in knowing how to manage canoes, had his warriors taught to navigate; and

his own son, with his companions, paddled the chief's canoe. All the dishes, baskets, stools, and canoes are

made by the black tribes called Manyeti and Matlotlora. The houses are built by the women and servants. The

Makololo women are vastly superior to any we have yet seen. They are of a light warm brown complexion,

have pleasant countenances, and are remarkably quick of apprehension. They dress neatly, wearing a kilt and

mantle, and have many ornaments. Sebituane's sister, the head lady of Sesheke, wore eighteen solid brass

rings, as thick as one's finger, on each leg, and three of copper under each knee; nineteen brass rings on her

left arm, and eight of brass and copper on her right, also a large ivory ring above each elbow. She had a pretty

bead necklace, and a bead sash encircled her waist. The weight of the bright brass rings round her legs

impeded her walking, and chafed her ankles; but, as it was the fashion, she did not mind the inconvenience,

Justice appears upon the whole to be pretty fairly administered among the Makololo. A headman took some

beads and a blanket from one of his men who had been with us; the matter was brought before the chief, and

he immediately ordered the goods to be restored, and decreed, moreover, that no headman should take the

property of the men who had returned. In theory, all the goods brought back belonged to the chief; the men

laid them at his feet, and made a formal offer of them all; he looked at the articles, and told the men to keep

them. This is almost invariably the case. Tuba Mokoro, however, fearing lest Sekeletu might take a fancy to

some of his best goods, exhibited only a few of his old and least valuable acquisitions. Masakasa had little to

show; he had committed some breach of native law in one of the villages on the way, and paid a heavy fine

rather than have the matter brought to the Doctor's ears. Each carrier is entitled to a portion of the goods in

his bundle, though purchased by the chief's ivory, and they never hesitate to claim their rights; but no wages

can be demanded from the chief, if he fails to respond to the first application.

Our men, accustomed to our ways, thought that the English system of paying a man for his labour was the

only correct one, and some even said it would be better to live under a government where life and labour

were more secure and valuable than here. While with us, they always conducted themselves with propriety

during Divine service, and not only maintained decorum themselves, but insisted on other natives who might

be present doing the same. When Moshobotwane, the Batoka chief, came on one occasion with a number of

his men, they listened in silence to the reading of the Bible in the Makololo tongue; but, as soon as we all

knelt down to pray, they commenced a vigorous clapping of hands, their mode of asking a favour. Our

indignant Makololo soon silenced their noisy accompaniment, and looked with great contempt on this display

of ignorance. Nearly all our men had learned to repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed in their own

language, and felt rather proud of being able to do so; and when they reached home, they liked to recite them

to groups of admiring friends. Their ideas of right and wrong differ in no respect from our own, except in

their professed inability to see how it can be improper for a man to have more than one wife. A year or two

ago several of the wives of those who had been absent with us petitioned the chief for leave to marry again.

They thought that it was of no use waiting any longer, their husbands must be dead; but Sekeletu refused

permission; he himself had bet a number of oxen that the Doctor would return with their husbands, and he

had promised the absent men that their wives should be kept for them. The impatient spouses had therefore to

wait a little longer. Some of them, however, eloped with other men; the wife of Mantlanyane, for instance,

ran off and left his little boy among strangers. Mantlanyane was very angry when he heard of it, not that he

cared much about her deserting him, for he had two other wives at Tette, but he was indignant at her

Life amongst the MakololoReturn journeyNative hospitalityA canoe voyage on the Zambesi.

While we were at Sesheke, an ox was killed by a crocodile; a man found the carcass floating in the river, and

appropriated the meat. When the owner heard of this, he requested him to come before the chief, as he meant

to complain of him; rather than go, the delinquent settled the matter by giving one of his own oxen in lieu of

the lost one. A headman from near Linyanti came with a complaint that all his people had run off, owing to

the "hunger." Sekeletu said, "You must not be left to grow lean alone, some of them must come back to you."

He had thus an order to compel their return, if he chose to put it in force. Families frequently leave their own

headman and flee to another village, and sometimes a whole village decamps by night, leaving the headman

by himself. Sekeletu rarely interfered with the liberty of the subject to choose his own headman, and, as it is

often the fault of the latter which causes the people to depart, it is punishment enough for him to be left alone.

Flagrant disobedience to the chief's orders is punished with death. A Moshubia man was ordered to cut some

reeds for Sekeletu: he went off, and hid himself for two days instead. For this he was doomed to die, and was

carried in a canoe to the middle of the river, choked, and tossed into the stream. The spectators hooted the

executioners, calling out to them that they too would soon be carried out and strangled. Occasionally when a

man is sent to beat an offender, he tells him his object, returns, and assures the chief he has nearly killed him.

The transgressor then keeps for a while out of sight, and the matter is forgotten. The river here teems with

monstrous crocodiles, and women are frequently, while drawing water, carried off by these reptiles.

We met a venerable warrior, sole survivor, probably, of the Mantatee host which threatened to invade the

colony in 1824. He retained a vivid recollection of their encounter with the Griquas: "As we looked at the

men and horses, puffs of smoke arose, and some of us dropped down dead!" "Never saw anything like it in

my life, a man's brains lying in one place and his body in another!" They could not understand what was

killing them; a ball struck a man's shield at an angle; knocked his arm out of joint at the shoulder; and leaving

a mark, or burn, as he said, on the shield, killed another man close by. We saw the man with his shoulder still

dislocated. Sebetuane was present at the fight, and had an exalted opinion of the power of white people ever

The ancient costume of the Makololo consisted of the skin of a lamb, kid, jackal, ocelot, or other small

animal, worn round and below the loins: and in cold weather a kaross, or skin mantle, was thrown over the

shoulders. The kaross is now laid aside, and the young men of fashion wear a monkeyjacket and a skin

round the hips; but no trousers, waistcoat, or shirt. The river and lake tribes are in general very cleanly,

bathing several times a day. The Makololo women use water rather sparingly, rubbing themselves with

melted butter instead: this keeps off parasites, but gives their clothes a rancid odour. One stage of civilization

often leads of necessity to anotherthe possession of clothes creates a demand for soap; give a man a

This being a time of mourning, on account of the illness of the chief, the men were negligent of their persons,

they did not cut their hair, or have merry dances, or carry spear and shield when they walked abroad. The

wife of Pitsane was busy making a large hut, while we were in the town: she informed us that the men left

house building entirely to the women and servants. A round tower of stakes and reeds, nine or ten feet high,

is raised and plastered; a floor is next made of soft tufa, or anthill material and cowdung. This plaster

prevents the poisonous insects, called tumpans, whose bite causes fever in some, and painful sores in all,

from harbouring in the cracks or soil. The roof, which is much larger in diameter than the tower, is made on

the ground, and then, many persons assisting, lifted up and placed on the tower, and thatched. A plastered

reed fence is next built up to meet the outer part of the roof, which still projects a little over this fence, and a

space of three feet remains between it and the tower. We slept in this space, instead of in the tower, as the

inner door of the hut we occupied was uncomfortably small, being only nineteen inches high, and

twentytwo inches wide at the floor. A foot from the bottom it measured seventeen inches in breadth, and

close to the top only twelve inches, so it was a difficult matter to get through it. The tower has no light or

ventilation, except through this small door. The reason a lady assigned for having the doors so very small was

The children have merry times, especially in the cool of the evening. One of their games consists of a little

girl being carried on the shoulders of two others. She sits with outstretched arms, as they walk about with her,

and all the rest clap their hands, and stopping before each hut sing pretty airs, some beating time on their little

kilts of cowskin, others making a curious humming sound between the songs. Excepting this and the

skippingrope, the play of the girls consists in imitation of the serious work of their mothers, building little

huts, making small pots, and cooking, pounding corn in miniature mortars, or hoeing tiny gardens. The boys

play with spears of reeds pointed with wood, and small shields, or bows and arrows; or amuse themselves in

making little cattlepens, or in moulding cattle in clay; they show great ingenuity in the imitation of

variousshaped horns. Some too are said to use slings, but as soon as they can watch the goats, or calves,

they are sent to the field. We saw many boys riding on the calves they had in charge, but this is an innovation

since the arrival of the English with their horses. Tselane, one of the ladies, on observing Dr. Livingstone

noting observations on the wet and dry bulb thermometers, thought that he too was engaged in play; for on

receiving no reply to her question, which was rather difficult to answer, as the native tongue has no scientific

Like other Africans, the Makololo have great faith in the power of medicine; they believe that there is an

especial medicine for every ill that flesh is heir to. Mamire is anxious to have children; he has six wives, and

only one boy, and he begs earnestly for "child medicine." The mother of Sekeletu came from the Barotse

Valley to see her son. Thinks she has lost flesh since Dr. Livingstone was here before, and asks for "the

medicine of fatness." The Makololo consider plumpness an essential part of beauty in women, but the

extreme stoutness, mentioned by Captain Speke, in the north, would be considered hideous here, for the men

have been overheard speaking of a lady whom we call "inclined to embonpoint," as "fat unto ugliness."

Two packages from the Kuruman, containing letters and newspapers, reached Linyanti previous to our

arrival, and Sekeletu, not knowing when we were coming, left them there; but now at once sent a messenger

for them. This man returned on the seventh day, having travelled 240 geographical miles. One of the

packages was too heavy for him, and he left it behind. As the Doctor wished to get some more medicine and

papers out of the wagon left at Linyanti in 1853, he decided upon going thither himself. The chief gave him

his own horse, now about twelve years old, and some men. He found everything in his wagon as safe as when

he left it seven years before. The headmen, Mosale and Pekonyane, received him cordially, and lamented that

they had so little to offer him. Oh! had he only arrived the year previous, when there was abundance of milk

Very early the next morning the old towncrier, MaPulenyane, of his own accord made a public

proclamation, which, in the perfect stillness of the town long before dawn, was striking: "I have dreamed! I

have dreamed! I have dreamed! Thou Mosale and thou Pekonyane, my lords, be not fainthearted, nor let

your hearts be sore, but believe all the words of Monare (the Doctor) for his heart is white as milk towards

the Makololo. I dreamed that he was coming, and that the tribe would live, if you prayed to God and give

heed to the word of Monare." MaPulenyane showed Dr. Livingstone the buryingplace where poor

Helmore and seven others were laid, distinguishing those whom he had put to rest, and those for whom

Mafale had performed that last office. Nothing whatever marked the spot, and with the native idea of

HIDING the dead, it was said, "it will soon be all overgrown with bushes, for no one will cultivate there."

None but MaPulenyane approached the place, the others stood at a respectful distance; they invariably avoid

everything connected with the dead, and no such thing as taking portions of human bodies to make charms of,

Sekeletu's health improved greatly during our visit, the melancholy foreboding left his spirits, and he became

cheerful, but resolutely refused to leave his den, and appear in public till he was perfectly cured, and had

regained what he considered his good looks. He also feared lest some of those who had bewitched him

As we expected another steamer to be at Kongone in November, it was impossible for us to remain in

Sesheke more than one month. Before our departure, the chief and his principal men expressed in a formal

manner their great desire to have English people settled on the Batoka highlands. At one time he proposed to

go as far as Phori, in order to select a place of residence; but as he afterwards saw reasons for remaining

where he was, till his cure was completed, he gave orders to those sent with us, in the event of our getting, on

our return, past the rapids near Tette, not to bring us to Sesheke, but to send forward a messenger, and he with

the whole tribe would come to us. Dr. Kirk being of the same age, Sekeletu was particularly anxious that he

should come and live with him. He said that he would cut off a section of the country for the special use of

the English; and on being told that in all probability their descendants would cause disturbance in his country,

he replied, "These would be only domestic feuds, and of no importance." The great extent of uncultivated

land on the cool and now unpeopled highlands has but to be seen to convince the spectator how much room

there is, and to spare, for a vastly greater population than ever, in our day, can be congregated there.

On the last occasion of our holding Divine service at Sesheke, the men were invited to converse on the

subject on which they had been addressed. So many of them had died since we were here before, that not

much probability existed of our all meeting again, and this had naturally led to the subject of a future state.

They replied that they did not wish to offend the speaker, but they could not believe that all the dead would

rise again: "Can those who have been killed in the field and devoured by the vultures; or those who have been

eaten by the hyenas or lions; or those who have been tossed into the river, and eaten by more than one

crocodile,can they all be raised again to life?" They were told that men could take a leaden bullet, change

it into a salt (acetate of lead), which could be dissolved as completely in water as our bodies in the stomachs

of animals, and then reconvert it into lead; or that the bullet could be transformed into the red and white paint

of our wagons, and again be reconverted into the original lead; and that if men exactly like themselves could

do so much, how much more could He do who has made the eye to see, and the ear to hear! We added,

however, that we believed in a resurrection, not because we understood how it would be brought about, but

because our Heavenly Father assured us of it in His Book. The reference to the truth of the Book and its

Author seems always to have more influence on the native mind than the cleverness of the illustration. The

knowledge of the people is scanty, but their reasoning is generally clear as far as their information goes.

We left Sesheke on the 17th September, 1860, convoyed by Pitsane and Leshore with their men. Pitsane was

ordered by Sekeletu to make a hedge round the garden at the Falls, to protect the seeds we had brought; and

also to collect some of the tobacco tribute below the Falls. Leshore, besides acting as a sort of guard of

honour to us, was sent on a diplomatic mission to Sinamane. No tribute was exacted by Sekeletu from

Sinamane; but, as he had sent in his adhesion, he was expected to act as a guard in case of the Matebele

wishing to cross and attack the Makololo. As we intended to purchase canoes of Sinamane in which to

descend the river, Leshore was to commend us to whatever help this Batoka chief could render. It must be

confessed that Leshore's men, who were all of the black subject tribes, really needed to be viewed by us in the

most charitable light; for Leshore, on entering any village, called out to the inhabitants, "Look out for your

Two young Makololo with their Batoka servants accompanied us to see if Kebrabasa could be surmounted,

and to bring a supply of medicine for Sekeletu's leprosy; and half a dozen able canoemen, under Mobito,

who had previously gone with Dr. Livingstone to Loanda, were sent to help us in our river navigation. Some

men on foot drove six oxen which Sekeletu had given us as provisions for the journey. It was, as before

remarked, a time of scarcity; and, considering the dearth of food, our treatment had been liberal.

By day the canoemen are accustomed to keep close under the river's bank from fear of the hippopotami; by

night, however, they keep in the middle of the stream, as then those animals are usually close to the bank on

their way to their grazing grounds. Our progress was considerably impeded by the high winds, which at this

season of the year begin about eight in the morning, and blow strongly up the river all day. The canoes were

poor leaky affairs, and so low in parts of the gunwale, that the paddlers were afraid to follow the channel

when it crossed the river, lest the waves might swamp us. A rough sea is dreaded by all these inland

canoemen; but though timid, they are by no means unskilful at their work. The ocean rather astonished them

afterwards; and also the admirable way that the Nyassa men managed their canoes on a rough lake, and even

On the night of the 17th we slept on the left bank of the Majeele, after having had all the men ferried across.

An ox was slaughtered, and not an ounce of it was left next morning. Our two young Makololo companions,

Maloka and Ramakukane, having never travelled before, naturally clung to some of the luxuries they had

been accustomed to at home. When they lay down to sleep, their servants were called to spread their blankets

over their august persons, not forgetting their feet. This seems to be the duty of the Makololo wife to her

husband, and strangers sometimes receive the honour. One of our party, having wandered, slept at the village

of Nambowe. When he laid down, to his surprise two of Nambowe's wives came at once, and carefully and

A beautiful silvery fish with reddish fins, called Ngwesi, is very abundant in the river; large ones weigh

fifteen or twenty pounds each. Its teeth are exposed, and so arranged that, when they meet, the edges cut a

hook like nippers. The Ngwesi seems to be a very ravenous fish. It often gulps down the Konokono, a fish

armed with serrated bones more than an inch in length in the pectoral and dorsal fins, which, fitting into a

notch at the roots, can be put by the fish on full cock or straight out,they cannot be folded down, without

its will, and even break in resisting. The name "Konokono," elbowelbow, is given it from a resemblance its

extended fins are supposed to bear to a man's elbows stuck out from his body. It often performs the little trick

of cocking its fins in the stomach of the Ngwesi, and, the elbows piercing its enemy's sides, he is frequently

found floating dead. The fin bones seem to have an acrid secretion on them, for the wound they make is

excessively painful. The Konokono barks distinctly when landed with the hook. Our canoemen invariably

picked up every dead fish they saw on the surface of the water, however far gone. An unfragrant odour was

no objection; the fish was boiled and eaten, and the water drunk as soup. It is a curious fact that many of the

Africans keep fish as we do W.s, until they are extremely offensive, before they consider them fit to

eat. Our paddlers informed us on our way down that iguanas lay their eggs in July and August, and crocodiles

in September. The eggs remain a month or two under the sand where they are laid, and the young come out

when the rains have fairly commenced. The canoemen were quite positive that crocodiles frequently stun

men by striking them with their tails, and then squat on them till they are drowned. We once caught a young

crocodile, which certainly did use its tail to inflict sharp blows, and led us to conclude that the native opinion

is correct. They believed also that, if a person shuts the beast's eyes, it lets go its hold. Crocodiles have been

known to unite and kill a large one of their own species and eat it. Some fishermen throw the bones of the

fish into the river but in most of the fishing villages there are heaps of them in various places. The villagers

can walk over them without getting them into their feet; but the Makololo, from having softer soles, are

unable to do so. The explanation offered was, that the fishermen have a medicine against fishbones, but that

We spent a night on Mparira island, which is four miles long and about one mile broad. Mokompa, the

headman, was away hunting elephants. His wife sent for him on our arrival, and he returned next morning

before we left. Taking advantage of the longcontinued drought, he had set fire to the reeds between the

Chobe and Zambesi, in such a manner as to drive the game out at one corner, where his men laid in wait with

their spears. He had killed five elephants and three buffaloes, wounding several others which escaped.

On our land party coming up, we were told that the oxen were bitten by the tsetse: they could see a great

difference in their looks. One was already eaten, and they now wished to slaughter another. A third fell into a

The Batoka chief, Moshobotwane, again treated us with his usual hospitality, giving us an ox, some meal, and

milk. We took another view of the grand Mosioatunya, and planted a quantity of seeds in the garden on the

island; but, as no one will renew the hedge, the hippopotami will, doubtless, soon destroy what we planted.

Mashotlane assisted us. So much power was allowed to this under chief, that he appeared as if he had cast

off the authority of Sekeletu altogether. He did not show much courtesy to his messengers; instead of giving

them food, as is customary, he took the meat out of a pot in their presence, and handed it to his own

followers. This may have been because Sekeletu's men bore an order to him to remove to Linyanti. He had

not only insulted Baldwin, but had also driven away the Griqua traders; but this may all end in nothing. Some

of the natives here, and at Sesheke, know a few of the low tricks of more civilized traders. A pot of milk was

brought to us one evening, which was more indebted to the Zambesi than to any cow. Baskets of

finelooking white meal, elsewhere, had occasionally the lower half filled with bran. Eggs are always a

perilous investment. The native idea of a good egg differs as widely from our own as is possible on such a

trifling subject. An egg is eaten here with apparent relish, though an embryo chick be inside.

We left Mosioatunya on the 27th, and slept close to the village of Bakwini. It is built on a ridge of loose

red soil, which produces great crops of mapira and groundnuts; many magnificent mosibetrees stand near

the village. Machimisi, the headman of the village, possesses a herd of cattle and a large heart; he kept us

We had heard a good deal of a stronghold some miles below the Falls, called Kalunda. Our return path was

much nearer the Zambesi than that of our ascent,in fact, as near as the rough country would allow,but

we left it twice before we reached Sinamane's, in order to see Kalunda and a Fall called Moomba, or

Moamba. The Makololo had once dispossessed the Batoka of Kalunda, but we could not see the fissure, or

whatever it is, that rendered it a place of security, as it was on the southern bank. The crack of the Great Falls

was here continued: the rocks are the same as further up, but perhaps less weatherwornand now partially

stratified in great thick masses. The country through which we were travelling was covered with a

The description we received of the Moamba Falls seemed to promise something grand. They were said to

send up "smoke" in the wet season, like Mosioatunya; but when we looked down into the cleft, in which

the darkgreen narrow river still rolls, we saw, about 800 or 1000 feet below us, what, after Mosioatunya,

seemed two insignificant cataracts. It was evident that Pitsane, observing our delight at the Victoria Falls,

wished to increase our pleasure by a second wonder. One Mosioatunya, however, is quite enough for a

We had now an opportunity of seeing more of the Batoka, than we had on the highland route to our north.

They did not wait till the evening before offering food to the strangers. The aged wife of the headman of a

hamlet, where we rested at midday, at once kindled a fire, and put on the cookingpot to make porridge. Both

men and women are to be distinguished by greater roundness of feature than the other natives, and the custom

of knocking out the upper front teeth gives at once a distinctive character to the face. Their colour attests the

greater altitude of the country in which many of them formerly lived. Some, however, are as dark as the

Bashubia and Barotse of the great valley to their west, in which stands Sesheke, formerly the capital of the

The assertion may seem strange, yet it is none the less true, that in all the tribes we have visited we never saw

a really black person. Different shades of brown prevail, and often with a bright bronze tint, which no painter,

except Mr. Angus, seems able to catch. Those who inhabit elevated, dry situations, and who are not obliged

to work much in the sun, are frequently of a light warm brown, "dark but comely." Darkness of colour is

probably partly caused by the sun, and partly by something in the climate or soil which we do not yet know.

We see something of the same sort in trout and other fish which take their colour from the ponds or streams

in which they live. The members of our party were much less embrowned by free exposure to the sun for

years than Dr. Livingstone and his family were by passing once from Kuruman to Cape Town, a journey

We encamped on the Kalomo, on the 1st of October, and found the weather very much warmer than when we

crossed this stream in August. At 3 p.m. the thermometer, four feet from the ground, was 101 degrees in the

shade; the wet bulb only 61 degrees: a difference of 40 degrees. Yet, notwithstanding this extreme dryness of

the atmosphere, without a drop of rain having fallen for months, and scarcely any dew, many of the shrubs

and trees were putting forth fresh leaves of various hues, while others made a profuse display of lovely

Two old and very savage buffaloes were shot for our companions on the 3rd October. Our Volunteers may

feel an interest in knowing that balls sometimes have but little effect: one buffalo fell, on receiving a Jacob's

shell; it was hit again twice, and lost a large amount of blood; and yet it sprang up, and charged a native, who,

by great agility, had just time to climb a tree, before the maddened beast struck it, batteringram fashion,

hard enough almost to have split both head and tree. It paused a few secondsdrew back several

pacesglared up at the manand then dashed at the tree again and again, as if determined to shake him out

of it. It took two more Jacob's shells, and five other large solid rifleballs to finish the beast at last. These old

surly buffaloes had been wandering about in a sort of miserable fellowship; their skins were diseased and

scabby, as if leprous, and their horns atrophied or worn down to stumpsthe first was killed outright, by one

Jacob's shell, the second died hard. There is so much difference in the tenacity of life in wounded animals of

the same species, that the inquiry is suggested where the seat of life can be?We have seen a buffalo live

long enough, after a large bullet had passed right through the heart, to allow firm adherent clots to be formed

One day's journey above Sinamane's, a mass of mountain called Gorongue, or Golongwe, is said to cross the

river, and the rent through which the river passes is, by native report, quite fearful to behold. The country

round it is so rocky, that our companions dreaded the fatigue, and were not much to blame, if, as is probably

the case, the way be worse than that over which we travelled. As we trudged along over the black slaglike

rocks, the almost leafless trees affording no shade, the heat was quite as great as Europeans could bear. It was

102 degrees in the shade, and a thermometer placed under the tongue or armpit showed that our blood was

99.5 degrees, or 1.5 degrees hotter than that of the natives, which stood at 98 degrees. Our shoes, however,

enable us to pass over the hot burning soil better than they can. Many of those who wear sandals have corns

on the sides of the feet, and on the heels, where the straps pass. We have seen instances, too, where neither

sandals nor shoes were worn, of corns on the soles of the feet. It is, moreover, not at all uncommon to see

toes cocked up, as if pressed out of their proper places; at home, we should have unhesitatingly ascribed this

On the 5th, after crossing some hills, we rested at the village of Simariango. The bellows of the blacksmith

here were somewhat different from the common goatskin bags, and more like those seen in Madagascar.

They consisted of two wooden vessels, like a lady's bandbox of small dimensions, the upper ends of which

were covered with leather, and looked something like the heads of drums, except that the leather bagged in

the centre. They were fitted with long nozzles, through which the air was driven by working the loose

covering of the tops up and down by means of a small piece of wood attached to their centres. The blacksmith

said that tin was obtained from a people in the north, called Marendi, and that he had made it into bracelets;

Our course then lay down the bed of a rivulet, called Mapatizia, in which there was much calc spar, with

calcareous schist, and then the Tette grey sandstone, which usually overlies coal. On the 6th we arrived at the

islet Chilombe, belonging to Sinamane, where the Zambesi runs broad and smooth again, and were well

received by Sinamane himself. Never was Sunday more welcome to the weary than this, the last we were to

We now saw many goodlooking young men and women. The dresses of the ladies are identical with those

of Nubian women in Upper Egypt. To a belt on the waist a great number of strings are attached to hang all

round the person. These fringes are about six or eight inches long. The matrons wear in addition a skin cut

like the tails of the coatee formerly worn by our dragoons. The younger girls wear the waistbelt exhibited in

the 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

Sinamane's people cultivate large quantities of tobacco, which they manufacture into balls for the Makololo

market. Twenty balls, weighing about threequarters 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 appear to have abundance of food, and are all in good condition. 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 canoemen, who were to bring them back. The river is about

250 yards wide, and flows serenely between high banks towards the Northeast. 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 potholes

in the deep fissure above. The bottom above the Falls, save a few rocks close by them, is generally sandy or

of soft tufa. Every damp spot is covered with maize, pumpkins, watermelons, 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

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 canoemen, after trying to

get his pay, deserted here, and went back before the stipulated time, with the story, that the Englishman had

stolen the canoes. Shortly after sunrise next morning, Sinamane came into the village with fifty of his "long

spears," evidently 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." Sinamane 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, having 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, 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 fruittree seeds; with which

request of course we very willingly 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 drinkofferings to him. Though he had heard of us, he had never seen

Beautiful crowned cranes, named from their note "mawang," were seen daily, and were beginning to pair.

Large flocks of spurwinged 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 knobnosed, 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 beeeaters. These birds came out in hundreds as we

passed. When the redbreasted species settle on the trees, they give them the appearance of being covered

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 breakfast 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 watermelon. His servant had

lateral curvature 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." This was irresistible. The trading party of Sequasha, which we now met, had purchased

ten large 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 something 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 temperature of the Zambesi had increased 10 degrees since August, being now 80 degrees. The air was

as high as 96 degrees 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 twentytwo years Dr. Livingstone

never met or heard of a single case, though the protective headdresses 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 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 opening in the dyke. When we entered the gorge we came on upwards of thirty

hippopotami: a bank near the entrance stretches twothirds across the narrowed river, and in the still place

behind it they were swimming about. Several were in the channel, and our canoemen were afraid to venture

down among them, because, as they affirm, there is commonly an illnatured one in a herd, which takes a

malignant 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 riverdoctor, 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 Karaba before trusting our canoes in it. The current was strong, and

there was broken water in some places, but 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, having made it fast to a rock, were

sitting waiting for us on the bank beside the dead animal. As there was a considerable 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 where 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

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 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 tremendous upheaving and convulsive action of nature, which probably caused

Kebrabasa, Kariba, and the Victoria Falls to assume their present forms; it took place after the formation of

the coal, that mineral having then been tilted up. We have probably nothing equal to it in the present quiet

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 southeast. Chikumbula, a hospitable old headman, under Nchomokela, the

paramount chief of a large district, whom we did not see, brought us next morning 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 cottonplants; 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 sleepingplace; and

a hungry 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 abundance, especially from this

point to below the Kafue, and so it is on Moselekatso'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, and monkeys appear; francolins, guineafowls, 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 in a 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 socalled 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 have 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. When the female has twins, she is said to kill one of them.

We touched at the beautiful treecovered island of Kalabi, opposite where Tubamokoro lectured the lion in

our way up. The ancestors of the people who now inhabit this island possessed cattle. The tsetse has taken

possession of the country since "the beeves were lifted." No one knows where these insects 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 dwellingplace. Pretty little lizards, with light

blue and red tails, run among the rocks, catching flies and other insects. These harmlessthough to

newcomers repulsivecreatures sometimes perform good service to man, by eating great numbers of the

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 influence 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 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, in 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.

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 midcurrent 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 Botoka man to do the same, as "the white men must be saved." "I cannot

swim," said the Batoka. "Jump out, then, and hold on to the canoe;" which he instantly did. Swimming

alongside, 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

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 below it.

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 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

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

hillsides 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 Karivua 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 being

The waterbuckDisaster in Kebrabasa rapidsThe "Ma Robert" foundersArrival of the "Pioneer" and

We arrived at Zumbo, at the mouth of the Loangwa, on the 1st 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 imbedded in it, and the wound entirely healed. A great deal of the plant Pistia stratiotes was seen floating

in the river. Many people inhabit the right bank about this part, yet the game is very abundant.

As we were taking our breakfast on the morning of the 2nd, the Mambo Kazai, of whom we knew nothing,

and his men came with their muskets and large powderhorns to levy a fine, and obtain payment for the

wood we used in cooking. But on our replying to his demand that we were English, "Oh! are you?" he said; "I

thought you were Bazungu (Portuguese). They are the people I take payments from:" and he apologized for

his mistake. Bazungu, or Azungu, is a term applied to all foreigners of a light colour, and to Arabs; even to

trading slaves if clothed; it probably means foreigners, or visitors,from zunga, to visit or wander,and the

Portuguese were the only foreigners these men had ever seen. As we had no desire to pass for people of that

nationquite the contrarywe usually made a broad line of demarcation by saying that we were English,

and the English neither bought, sold, nor held black people as slaves, but wished to put a stop to the

We called upon our friend, Mpende, in passing. He provided a hut for us, with new mats spread on the floor.

Having told him that we were hurrying on because the rains were near, "Are they near?" eagerly inquired an

old counsellor, "and are we to have plenty of rain this year?" We could only say that it was about the usual

time for the rains to commence; and that there were the usual indications in great abundance of clouds

The hippopotami are more wary here than higher up, as the natives hunt them with guns. Having shot one on

a shallow sandbank, our men undertook to bring it over to the left bank, in order to cut it up with greater ease.

It was a fine fat one, and all rejoiced in the hope of eating the fat for butter, with our hard dry cakes of native

meal. Our cook was sent over to cut a choice piece for dinner, but returned with the astonishing intelligence

that the carcass was gone. They had been hoodwinked, and were very much ashamed of themselves. A

number of Banyai came to assist in rolling it ashore, and asserted that it was all shallow water. They rolled it

over and over towards the land, and, finding the rope we had made fast to it, as they said, an encumbrance, it

was unloosed. All were shouting and talking as loud as they could bawl, when suddenly our expected feast

plumped into a deep hole, as the Banyai intended it should do. When sinking, all the Makololo jumped in

after it. One caught frantically at the tail; another grasped a foot; a third seized the hip; "but, by Sebituane, it

would go down in spite of all that we could do." Instead of a fat hippopotamus we had only a lean fowl for

dinner, and were glad enough to get even that. The hippopotamus, however, floated during the night, and was

found about a mile below. The Banyai then assembled on the bank, and disputed our right to the beast: "It

might have been shot by somebody else." Our men took a little of it and then left it, rather than come into

A fine waterbuck was shot in the Kakolole narrows, at Mount Manyerere; it dropped beside the creek where

it was feeding; an enormous crocodile, that had been watching it at the moment, seized and dragged it into the

water, which was not very deep. The mortally wounded animal made a desperate plunge, and hauling the

crocodile several yards tore itself out of the hideous jaws. To escape the hunter, the waterbuck jumped into

the river, and was swimming across, when another crocodile gave chase, but a ball soon sent it to the bottom.

The waterbuck swam a little longer, the fine head dropped, the body turned over, and one of the canoes

dragged it ashore. Below Kakolole, and still at the base of Manyerere mountain, several coal seams, not

noticed on our ascent, were now seen to crop out on the right bank of the Zambesi.

Chitora, of Chicova, treated us with his former hospitality. Our men were all much pleased with his kindness,

and certainly did not look upon it as a proof of weakness. They meant to return his friendliness when they

came this way on a marauding expedition to eat the sheep of the Banyai, for insulting them in the affair of the

hippopotamus; they would then send word to Chitora not to run away, for they, being his friends, would do

We entered Kebrabasa rapids, at the east end of Chicova, in the canoes, and went down a number of miles,

until the river narrowed into a groove of fifty or sixty yards wide, of which we have already spoken in

describing the floodbed and channel of low water. The navigation then became difficult and dangerous. A

fifteen feet fall of the water in our absence had developed many cataracts. Two of our canoes passed safely

down a narrow channel, which, bifurcating, had an ugly whirlpool at the rocky partition between the two

branches, the deep hole in the whirls at times opening and then shutting. The Doctor's canoe came next, and

seemed to be drifting broadside into the open vortex, in spite of the utmost exertions of the paddlers. The rest

were expecting to have to pull to the rescue; the men saying, "Look where these people are going!look,

look!"when a loud crash burst on our ears. Dr. Kirk's canoe was dashed on a projection of the

perpendicular rocks, by a sudden and mysterious boiling up of the river, which occurs at irregular intervals.

Dr. Kirk was seen resisting the suckingdown action of the water, which must have been fifteen fathoms

deep, and raising himself by his arms on to the ledge, while his steersman, holding on to the same rocks,

saved the canoe; but nearly all its contents were swept away down the stream. Dr. Livingstone's canoe,

meanwhile, which had distracted the men's attention, was saved by the cavity in the whirlpool filling up as

the frightful eddy was reached. A few of the things in Dr. Kirk's canoe were left; but all that was valuable,

including a chronometer, a barometer, and, to our great sorrow, his notes of the journey and botanical

We now left the river, and proceeded on foot, sorry that we had not done so the day before. The men were

thoroughly frightened, they had never seen such perilous navigation. They would carry all the loads, rather

than risk Kebrabasa any longer; but the fatigue of a day's march over the hot rocks and burning sand changed

their tune before night; and then they regretted having left the canoes; they thought they should have dragged

them past the dangerous places, and then launched them again. One of the two donkeys died from exhaustion

near the Luia. Though the men eat zebras and quaggas, blood relations of the donkey, they were shocked at

the idea of eating the ass; "it would be like eating man himself, because the donkey lives with man, and is his

bosom companion." We met two large trading parties of Tette slaves on their way to Zumbo, leading, to be

sold for ivory, a number of Manganja women, with ropes round their necks, and all made fast to one long

Panzo, the headman of the village east of Kebrabasa, received us with great kindness. After the usual

salutation he went up the hill, and, in a loud voice, called across the valley to the women of several hamlets to

cook supper for us. About eight in the evening he returned, followed by a procession of women, bringing the

food. There were eight dishes of nsima, or porridge, six of different sorts of very good wild vegetables, with

dishes of beans and fowls; all deliciously well cooked, and scrupulously clean. The wooden dishes were

nearly as white as the meal itself: food also was brought for our men. Ripe mangoes, which usually indicate

the vicinity of the Portuguese, were found on the 21st November; and we reached Tette early on the 23rd,

The two English sailors, left in charge of the steamer, were well, had behaved well, and had enjoyed excellent

health all the time we were away. Their farm had been a failure. We left a few sheep, to be slaughtered when

they wished for fresh meat, and two dozen fowls. Purchasing more, they soon had double the number of the

latter, and anticipated a good supply of eggs; but they also bought two monkeys, and THEY ate all the eggs.

A hippopotamus came up one night, and laid waste their vegetable garden; the sheep broke into their cotton

patch, when it was in flower, and ate it all, except the stems; then the crocodiles carried off the sheep, and the

natives stole the fowls. Nor were they more successful as gunsmiths: a Portuguese trader, having an exalted

opinion of the ingenuity of English sailors, showed them a doublebarrelled rifle, and inquired if they could

put on the BROWNING, which had rusted off. "I think I knows how," said one, whose father was a

blacksmith, "it's very easy; you have only to put the barrels in the fire." A great fire of wood was made on

shore, and the unlucky barrels put over it, to secure the handsome rifle colour. To Jack's utter amazement the

barrels came asunder. To get out of the scrape, his companion and he stuck the pieces together with resin, and

sent it to the owner, with the message, "It was all they could do for it, and they would not charge him

anything for the job!" They had also invented an original mode of settling a bargain; having ascertained the

market price of provisions, they paid that, but no more. If the traders refused to leave the ship till the price

was increased, a chameleon, of which the natives have a mortal dread, was brought out of the cabin; and the

moment the natives saw the creature, they at once sprang overboard. The chameleon settled every dispute in a

But besides their goodhumoured intercourse, they showed humanity worthy of English sailors. A terrible

scream roused them up one night, and they pushed off in a boat to the rescue. A crocodile had caught a

woman, and was dragging her across a shallow sandbank. Just as they came up to her, she gave a fearful

shriek: the horrid reptile had snapped off her leg at the knee. They took her on board, bandaged the limb as

well as they could, and, not thinking of any better way of showing their sympathy, gave her a glass of rum,

and carried her to a hut in the village. Next morning they found the bandages torn off, and the unfortunate

creature left to die. "I believe," remarked Rowe, one of the sailors, "her master was angry with us for saving

The Zambesi being unusually low, we remained at Tette till it rose a little, and then left on the 3rd of

December for the Kongone. It was hard work to keep the vessel afloat; indeed, we never expected her to

remain above water. New leaks broke out every day; the engine pump gave way; the bridge broke down;

three compartments filled at night; except the cabin and front compartment all was flooded; and in a few days

we were assured by Rowe that "she can't be worse than she is, sir." He and Hutchins had spent much of their

time, while we were away, in patching her bottom, puddling it with clay, and shoring it, and it was chiefly to

please them that we again attempted to make use of her. We had long been fully convinced that the steel

plates were thoroughly unsuitable. On the morning of the 21st the uncomfortable "Asthmatic" grounded on a

sandbank and filled. She could neither be emptied nor got off. The river rose during the night, and all that was

visible of the wornout craft next day was about six feet of her two masts. Most of the property we had on

board was saved; and we spent the Christmas of 1860 encamped on the island of Chimba. Canoes were sent

for from Senna; and we reached it on the 27th, to be again hospitably entertained by our friend, Senhor

We reached the Kongone on the 4th of January, 1861. A flagstaff and a Customhouse had been erected

during our absence; a hut, also, for a black lancecorporal and three privates. By the kind permission of the

lancecorporal, who came to see us as soon as he had got into his trousers and shirt, we took up our quarters

in the Customhouse, which, like the other buildings, is a small square floorless hut of mangrove stakes

overlaid with reeds. The soldiers complained of hunger, they had nothing to eat but a little mapira, and were

making palm wine to deaden their cravings. While waiting for a ship, we had leisure to read the newspapers

and periodicals we found in the mail which was waiting our arrival at Tette. Several were a year and a half

Our provisions began to run short; and towards the end of the month there was nothing left but a little bad

biscuit and a few ounces of sugar. Coffee and tea were expended, but scarcely missed, as our sailors

discovered a pretty good substitute in roasted mapira. Fresh meat was obtained in abundance from our

antelope preserves on the large island made by a creek between the Kongone and East Luabo.

In this focus of decaying vegetation, nothing is so much to be dreaded as inactivity. We had, therefore, to find

what exercise and amusement we could, when hunting was not required, in peering about in the fetid

swamps; to have gone mooning about, in listless idleness, would have ensured fever in its worst form, and

A curious little blennyfish swarms in the numerous creeks which intersect the mangrove topes. When

alarmed, it hurries across the surface of the water in a series of leaps. It may be considered amphibious, as it

lives as much out of the water as in it, and its most busy time is during low water. Then it appears on the sand

or mud, near the little pools left by the retiring tide; it raises itself on its pectoral fins into something of a

standing attitude, and with its large projecting eyes keeps a sharp lookout for the lightcoloured fly, on

which it feeds. Should the fly alight at too great a distance for even a second leap, the blenny moves slowly

towards it like a cat to its prey, or like a jumping spider; and, as soon as it gets within two or three inches of

the insect, by a sudden spring contrives to pop its underset mouth directly over the unlucky victim. He is,

moreover, a pugnacious little fellow; and rather prolonged fights may be observed between him and his

brethren. One, in fleeing from an apparent danger, jumped into a pool a foot square, which the other evidently

regarded as his by right of prior discovery; in a twinkling the owner, with eyes flashing fury, and with dorsal

fin bristling up in rage, dashed at the intruding foe. The fight waxed furious, no tempest in a teapot ever

equalled the storm of that miniature sea. The warriors were now in the water, and anon out of it, for the battle

raged on sea and shore. They struck hard, they bit each other; until, becoming exhausted, they seized each

other by the jaws like two bulldogs, then paused for breath, and at it again as fiercely as before, until the

The muddy ground under the mangrovetrees is covered with soldier crabs, which quickly slink into their

holes on any symptom of danger. When the ebbing tide retires, myriads of minute crabs emerge from their

underground quarters, and begin to work like so many busy bees. Soon many miles of the smooth sand

become rough with the results of their labour. They are toiling for their daily bread: a round bit of moist sand

appears at the little labourer's mouth, and is quickly brushed off by one of the claws; a second bit follows the

first; and another, and still another come as fast as they can be laid aside. As these pellets accumulate, the

crab moves sideways, and the work continues. The first impression one receives is, that the little creature has

swallowed a great deal of sand, and is getting rid of it as speedily as possible: a habit he indulges in of darting

into his hole at intervals, as if for fresh supplies, tends to strengthen this idea; but the size of the heaps formed

in a few seconds shows that this cannot be the case, and leads to the impression that, although not readily

seen, at the distance at which he chooses to keep the observer, yet that possibly he raises the sand to his

mouth, where whatever animalcule it may contain is sifted out of it, and the remainder rejected in the manner

described. At times the larger species of crabs perform a sort of concert; and from each subterranean abode

strange sounds arise, as if, in imitation of the songsters of the groves, for very joy they sang!

We found some natives pounding the woody stems of a poisonous climbingplant (Dirca palustris) called

Busungu, or poison, which grows abundantly in the swamps. When a good quantity was bruised, it was tied

up in bundles. The stream above and below was obstructed with bushes, and with a sort of rinsing motion the

poison was diffused through the water. Many fish were soon affected, swain in shore, and died, others were

only stupefied. The plant has pink, peashaped blossoms, and smooth, pointed, glossy leaves, and the brown

bark is covered with minute white points. The knowledge of it might prove of use to a shipwrecked party by

The poison is said to be deleterious to man if the water is drunk; but not when the fish is cooked. The

Busungu is repulsive to some insects, and is smeared round the shoots of the palmtrees to prevent the ants

from getting into the palm wine while it is dropping from the tops of the palmtrees into the little pots

We were in the habit of walking from our beds into the salt water at sunrise, for a bath, till a large crocodile

appeared at the bathing place, and from that time forth we took our dip in the sea, away from the harbour,

about midday. This is said to be unwholesome, but we did not find it so. It is certainly better not to bathe in

the mornings, when the air is colder than the waterfor then, on returning to the cooler air, one is apt to get

a chill and fever. In the mouth of the river, many sawfish are found. Rowe saw one while bathingcaught

it by the tail, and shoved it, "snout on," ashore. The saw is from a foot to eighteen inches long. We never

heard of any one being wounded by this fish; nor, though it goes hundreds of miles up the river in fresh

water, could we learn that it was eaten by the people. The hippopotami delighted to spend the day among the

Severe gales occurred during our stay on the Coast, and many small seabirds (Prion Banksii, Smith)

perished: the beach was strewn with their dead bodies, and some were found hundreds of yards inland; many

were so emaciated as to dry up without putrefying. We were plagued with myriads of mosquitoes, and had

some touches of fever; the men we brought from malarious regions of the interior suffered almost as much

from it here as we did ourselves. This gives strength to the idea that the civilized withstand the evil influences

of strange climates better than the uncivilized. When negroes return to their own country from healthy lands,

On the 31st of January, 1861, our new ship, the "Pioneer," arrived from England, and anchored outside the

bar; but the weather was stormy, and she did not venture in till the 4th of February.

Two of H.M. cruisers came at the same time, bringing Bishop Mackenzie, and the Oxford and Cambridge

Mission to the tribes of the Shire and Lake Nyassa. The Mission consisted of six Englishmen, and five

coloured men from the Cape. It was a puzzle to know what to do with so many men. The estimable Bishop,

anxious to commence his work without delay, wished the "Pioneer" to carry the Mission up the Shire, as far

as Chibisa's, and there leave them. But there were grave objections to this. The "Pioneer" was under orders to

explore the Rovuma, as the Portuguese Government had refused to open the Zambesi to the ships of other

nations, and their officials were very effectually pursuing a system, which, by abstracting the labour, was

rendering the country of no value either to foreigners or to themselves. She was already two months behind

her time, and the rainy season was half over. Then, if the party were taken to Chibisa's, the Mission would he

left without a medical attendant, in an unhealthy region, at the beginning of the most sickly season of the

year, and without means of reaching the healthy highlands, or of returning to the sea. We dreaded that, in the

absence of medical aid and all knowledge of the treatment of fever, there might be a repetition of the

On the 25th of February the "Pioneer" anchored in the mouth of the Rovuma, which, unlike most African

rivers, has a magnificent bay and no bar. We wooded, and then waited for the Bishop till the 9th of March,

when he came in the "Lyra." On the 11th we proceeded up the river, and saw that it had fallen four or five

feet during our detention. The scenery on the lower part of the Rovuma is superior to that on the Zambesi, for

we can see the highlands from the sea. Eight miles from the mouth the mangroves are left behind, and a

beautiful range of wellwooded hills on each bank begins. On these ridges the tree resembling African

blackwood, of finer grain than ebony, grows abundantly, and attains a large size. Few people were seen, and

those were of Arab breed, and did not appear to be very well off. The current of the Rovuma was now as

strong as that of the Zambesi, but the volume of water is very much less. Several of the crossings had barely

water enough for our ship, drawing five feet, to pass. When we were thirty miles up the river, the water fell

suddenly seven inches in twentyfour hours. As the March flood is the last of the season, and it appeared to

be expended, it was thought prudent to avoid the chance of a year's detention, by getting the ship back to the

sea without delay. Had the Expedition been alone, we would have pushed up in boats, or afoot, and done

what we could towards the exploration of the river and upper end of the lake; but, though the Mission was a

private one, and entirely distinct from our own, a public one, the objects of both being similar, we felt

anxious to aid our countrymen in their noble enterprise; and, rather than follow our own inclination, decided

to return to the Shire, see the Mission party settled safely, and afterwards explore Lake Nyassa and the

Rovuma, from the Lake downwards. Fever broke out on board the "Pioneer," at the mouth of the Rovuma, as

we thought from our having anchored close to a creek coming out of the mangroves; and it remained in her

until we completely isolated the engineroom from the rest of the ship. The coaldust rotting sent out strong

Soon after we started the fever put the "Pioneer" almost entirely into the hands of the original Zambesi

Expedition, and not long afterwards the leader had to navigate the ocean as well as the river. The habit of

finding the geographical positions on land renders it an easy task to steer a steamer with only three or four

sails at sea; where, if one does not run ashore, no one follows to find out an error, and where a current affords

Touching at Mohilla, one of the Comoro Islands, on our return, we found a mixed race of Arabs, Africans,

and their conquerors, the natives of Madagascar. Being Mahometans, they have mosques and schools, in

which we were pleased to see girls as well as boys taught to read the Koran. The teacher said he was paid by

the job, and received ten dollars for teaching each child to read. The clever ones learn in six months; but the

dull ones take a couple of years. We next went over to Johanna for our friends; and, after a sojourn of a few

days at the beautiful Comoro Islands, we sailed for the Kongone mouth of the Zambesi with Bishop

Mackenzie and his party. We reached the coast in seven days, and passed up the Zambesi to the Shire.

The "Pioneer," constructed under the skilful supervision of Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker and the late Admiral

Washington, warmhearted and highly esteemed friends of the Expedition, was a very superior vessel, and

well suited for our work in every respect, except in her draught of water. Five feet were found to be too much

for the navigation of the upper part of the Shire. Designed to draw three feet only, the weight necessary to

impart extra strength, and fit her for the ocean, brought her down two feet more, and caused us a great deal of

hard and vexatious work, in laying out anchors, and toiling at the capstan to get her off sandbanks. We should

not have minded this much, but for the heavy loss of time which might have been more profitably, and

infinitely more pleasantly, spent in intercourse with the people, exploring new regions, and otherwise

carrying out the objects of the Expedition. Once we were a fortnight on a bank of soft yielding sand, having

only two or three inches less water than the ship drew; this delay was occasioned by the anchors coming

home, and the current swinging the ship broadside on the bank, which, immediately on our touching, always

formed behind us. We did not like to leave the ship short of Chibisa's, lest the crew should suffer from the

malaria of the lowland around; and it would have been difficult to have got the Mission goods carried up. We

were daily visited by crowds of natives, who brought us abundance of provisions far beyond our ability to

consume. In hauling the "Pioneer" over the shallow places, the Bishop, with Horace Waller and Mr.

Scudamore, were ever ready and anxious to lend a hand, and worked as hard as any on board. Had our fine

little ship drawn but three feet, she could have run up and down the river at any time of the year with the

greatest ease, but as it was, having once passed up over a few shallow banks, it was impossible to take her

down again until the river rose in December. She could go up over a bank, but not come down over it, as a

heap of sand always formed instantly astern, while the current washed it away from under her bows.

On at last reaching Chibisa's, we heard that there was war in the Manganja country, and the slavetrade was

going on briskly. A deputation from a chief near Mount Zomba had just passed on its way to Chibisa, who

was in a distant village, to implore him to come himself, or send medicine, to drive off the Waiao, Waiau, or

Ajawa, whose marauding parties were desolating the land. A large gang of recently enslaved Manganja

crossed the river, on their way to Tette, a few days before we got the ship up. Chibisa's deputy was civil, and

readily gave us permission to hire as many men to carry the Bishop's goods up to the hills as were willing to

go. With a sufficient number, therefore, we started for the highlands on the 15th of July, to show the Bishop

the country, which, from its altitude and coolness, was most suitable for a station. Our first day's march was a

long and fatiguing one. The few hamlets we passed were poor, and had no food for our men, and we were

obliged to go on till 4 p.m., when we entered the small village of Chipindu. The inhabitants complained of

hunger, and said they had no food to sell, and no hut for us to sleep in; but, if we would only go on a little

further, we should come to a village where they had plenty to eat; but we had travelled far enough, and

determined to remain where we were. Before sunset as much food was brought as we cared to purchase, and,

Next forenoon we halted at the village of our old friend Mbame, to obtain new carriers, because Chibisa's

men, never before having been hired, and not having yet learned to trust us, did not choose to go further.

After resting a little, Mbame told us that a slave party on its way to Tette would presently pass through his

village. "Shall we interfere?" we inquired of each other. We remembered that all our valuable private

baggage was in Tette, which, if we freed the slaves, might, together with some Government property, be

destroyed in retaliation; but this system of slavehunters dogging us where previously they durst not venture,

and, on pretence of being "our children," setting one tribe against another, to furnish themselves with slaves,

would so inevitably thwart all the efforts, for which we had the sanction of the Portuguese Government, that

we resolved to run all risks, and put a stop, if possible, to the slavetrade, which had now followed on the

footsteps of our discoveries. A few minutes after Mbame had spoken to us, the slave party, a long line of

manacled men, women, and children, came wending their way round the hill and into the valley, on the side

of which the village stood. The black drivers, armed with muskets, and bedecked with various articles of

finery, marched jauntily in the front, middle, and rear of the line; some of them blowing exultant notes out of

long tin horns. They seemed to feel that they were doing a very noble thing, and might proudly march with an

air of triumph. But the instant the fellows caught a glimpse of the English, they darted off like mad into the

forest; so fast, indeed, that we caught but a glimpse of their red caps and the soles of their feet. The chief of

the party alone remained; and he, from being in front, had his hand tightly grasped by a Makololo! He proved

to be a wellknown slave of the late Commandant at Tette, and for some time our own attendant while there.

On asking him how he obtained these captives, he replied he had bought them; but on our inquiring of the

people themselves, all, save four, said they had been captured in war. While this inquiry was going on, he

bolted too. The captives knelt down, and, in their way of expressing thanks, clapped their hands with great

energy. They were thus left entirely on our hands, and knives were soon busy at work cutting the women and

children loose. It was more difficult to cut the men adrift, as each had his neck in the fork of a stout stick, six

or seven feet long, and was kept in by an iron rod which was riveted at both ends across the throat. With a

saw, luckily in the Bishop's baggage, one by one the men were sawn out into freedom. The women, on being

told to take the meal they were carrying and cook breakfast for themselves and the children, seemed to

consider the news too good to be true; but after a little coaxing went at it with alacrity, and made a capital fire

by which to boil their pots with the slave sticks and bonds, their old acquaintances through many a sad night

and weary day. Many were mere children about five years of age and under. One little boy, with the

simplicity of childhood, said to our men, "The others tied and starved us, you cut the ropes and tell us to eat;

what sort of people are you?Where did you come from?" Two of the women had been shot the day before

for attempting to untie the thongs. This, the rest were told, was to prevent them from attempting to escape.

One woman had her infant's brains knocked out, because she could not carry her load and it. And a man was

dispatched with an axe, because he had broken down with fatigue. Selfinterest would have set a watch over

the whole rather than commit murder; but in this traffic we invariably find selfinterest overcome by

The Bishop was not present at this scene, having gone to bathe in a little stream below the village; but on his

return he warmly approved of what had been done; he at first had doubts, but now felt that, had he been

present, he would have joined us in the good work. Logic is out of place when the question with a

truehearted man is, whether his brother man is to be saved or not. Eightyfour, chiefly women and children,

were liberated; and on being told that they were now free, and might go where they pleased, or remain with

us, they all chose to stay; and the Bishop wisely attached them to his Mission, to be educated as members of a

Christian family. In this way a great difficulty in the commencement of a Mission was overcome. Years are

usually required before confidence is so far instilled into the natives' mind as to induce them, young or old, to

submit to the guidance of strangers professing to be actuated by motives the reverse of worldly wisdom, and

We proceeded next morning to Soche's with our liberated party, the men cheerfully carrying the Bishop's

goods. As we had begun, it was of no use to do things by halves, so eight others were freed in a hamlet on our

path; but a party of traders, with nearly a hundred slaves, fled from Soche's on hearing of our proceedings.

Dr. Kirk and four Makololo followed them with great energy, but they made clear off to Tette. Six more

captives were liberated at Mongazi's, and two slavetraders detained for the night, to prevent them from

carrying information to a large party still in front. Of their own accord they volunteered the information that

the Governor's servants had charge of the next party; but we did not choose to be led by them, though they

offered to guide us to his Excellency's own agents. Two of the Bishop's black men from the Cape, having

once been slaves, were now zealous emancipators, and volunteered to guard the prisoners during the night. So

anxious were our heroes to keep them safe, that instead of relieving each other, by keeping watch and watch,

both kept watch together, till towards four o'clock in the morning, when sleep stole gently over them both;

and the wakeful prisoners, seizing the opportunity, escaped: one of the guards, perceiving the loss, rushed out

of the hut, shouting, "They are gone, the prisoners are off, and they have taken my rifle with them, and the

women too! Fire! everybody fire!" The rifle and the women, however, were all safe enough, the slavetraders

being only too glad to escape alone. Fifty more slaves were freed next day in another village; and, the whole

party being starknaked, cloth enough was left to clothe them, better probably than they had ever been

clothed before. The head of this gang, whom we knew as the agent of one of the principal merchants of Tette,

said that they had the license of the Governor for all they did. This we were fully aware of without his stating

it. It is quite impossible for any enterprise to be undertaken there without the Governor's knowledge and

The portion of the highlands which the Bishop wished to look at before deciding on a settlement belonged to

Chiwawa, or Chibaba, the most manly and generous Manganja chief we had met with on our previous

journey. On reaching Nsambo's, near Mount Chiradzuru, we heard that Chibaba was dead, and that Chigunda

was chief instead. Chigunda, apparently of his own accord, though possibly he may have learnt that the

Bishop intended to settle somewhere in the country, asked him to come and live with him at Magomero,

adding that there was room enough for both. This hearty and spontaneous invitation had considerable

influence on the Bishop's mind, and seemed to decide the question. A place nearer the Shire would have been

chosen had he expected his supplies to come up that river; but the Portuguese, claiming the river Shire,

Our hopes were turned to the Rovuma, as a free highway into Lake Nyassa and the vast interior. A steamer

was already ordered for the Lake, and the Bishop, seeing the advantageous nature of the highlands which

stretch an immense way to the north, was more anxious to be near the Lake and the Rovuma, than the Shire.

When he decided to settle at Magomero, it was thought desirable, to prevent the country from being

depopulated, to visit the Ajawa chief, and to try and persuade him to give up his slaving and kidnapping

On the morning of the 22nd we were informed that the Ajawa were near, and were burning a village a few

miles off. Leaving the rescued slaves, we moved off to seek an interview with these scourges of the country.

On our way we met crowds of Manganja fleeing from the war in front. These poor fugitives from the slave

hunt had, as usual, to leave all the food they possessed, except the little they could carry on their heads. We

passed field after field of Indian corn or beans, standing ripe for harvesting, but the owners were away. The

villages were all deserted: one where we breakfasted two years before, and saw a number of men peacefully

weaving cloth, and, among ourselves, called it the "Paisley of the hills," was burnt; the stores of corn were

poured out in cartloads, and scattered all over the plain, and all along the paths, neither conquerors nor

conquered having been able to convey it away. About two o'clock we saw the smoke of burning villages, and

heard triumphant shouts, mingled with the wail of the Manganja women, lamenting over their slain. The

Bishop then engaged us in fervent prayer; and, on rising from our knees, we saw a long line of Ajawa

warriors, with their captives, coming round the hillside. The first of the returning conquerors were entering

their own village below, and we heard women welcoming them back with "lillilooings." The Ajawa headman

left the path on seeing us, and stood on an anthill to obtain a complete view of our party. We called out that

we had come to have an interview with them, but some of the Manganja who followed us shouted "Our

Chibisa is come:" Chibisa being well known as a great conjurer and general. The Ajawa ran off yelling and

screaming, "Nkondo! Nkondo!" (War! War!) We heard the words of the Manganja, but they did not strike us

at the moment as neutralizing all our assertions of peace. The captives threw down their loads on the path,

and fled to the hills: and a large body of armed men came running up from the village, and in a few seconds

they were all around us, though mostly concealed by the projecting rocks and long grass. In vain we protested

that we had not come to fight, but to talk with them. They would not listen, having, as we remembered

afterwards, good reason, in the cry of "Our Chibisa." Flushed with recent victory over three villages, and

confident of an easy triumph over a mere handful of men, they began to shoot their poisoned arrows, sending

them with great force upwards of a hundred yards, and wounding one of our followers through the arm. Our

retiring slowly up the ascent from the village only made them more eager to prevent our escape; and, in the

belief that this retreat was evidence of fear, they closed upon us in bloodthirsty fury. Some came within fifty

yards, dancing hideously; others having quite surrounded us, and availing themselves of the rocks and long

grass hard by, were intent on cutting us off, while others made off with their women and a large body of

slaves. Four were armed with muskets, and we were obliged in selfdefence to return their fire and drive

them off. When they saw the range of rifles, they very soon desisted, and ran away; but some shouted to us

from the hills the consoling intimation, that they would follow, and kill us where we slept. Only two of the

captives escaped to us, but probably most of those made prisoners that day fled elsewhere in the confusion.

We returned to the village which we had left in the morning, after a hungry, fatiguing, and most unpleasant

Though we could not blame ourselves for the course we had followed, we felt sorry for what had happened. It

was the first time we had ever been attacked by the natives or come into collision with them; though we had

always taken it for granted that we might be called upon to act in selfdefence, we were on this occasion less

prepared than usual, no game having been expected here. The men had only a single round of cartridge each;

their leader had no revolver, and the rifle he usually fired with was left at the ship to save it from the damp of

the season. Had we known better the effect of slavery and murder on the temper of these bloodthirsty

The old chief, Chinsunse, came on a visit to us next day, and pressed the Bishop to come and live with him.

"Chigunda," he said, "is but a child, and the Bishop ought to live with the father rather than with the child."

But the old man's object was so evidently to have the Mission as a shield against the Ajawa, that his

invitation was declined. While begging us to drive away the marauders, that he might live in peace, he

adopted the stratagem of causing a number of his men to rush into the village, in breathless haste, with the

news that the Ajawa were close upon us. And having been reminded that we never fought, unless attacked, as

we were the day before, and that we had come among them for the purpose of promoting peace, and of

teaching them to worship the Supreme, to give up selling His children, and to cultivate other objects for

The Bishop, feeling, as most Englishmen would, at the prospect of the people now in his charge being swept

off into slavery by hordes of menstealers, proposed to go at once to the rescue of the captive Manganja, and

drive the marauding Ajawa out of the country. All were warmly in favour of this, save Dr. Livingstone, who

opposed it on the ground that it would be better for the Bishop to wait, and see the effect of the check the

slavehunters had just experienced. The Ajawa were evidently goaded on by Portuguese agents from Tette,

and there was no bond of union among the Manganja on which to work. It was possible that the Ajawa might

be persuaded to something better, though, from having long been in the habit of slaving for the Quillimane

market, it was not very probable. But the Manganja could easily be overcome piecemeal by any enemy; old

feuds made them glad to see calamities befall their next neighbours. We counselled them to unite against the

common enemies of their country, and added distinctly that we English would on no account enter into their

quarrels. On the Bishop inquiring whether, in the event of the Manganja again asking aid against the Ajawa,

it would be his duty to accede to their request,"No," replied Dr. Livingstone, "you will be oppressed by

their importunities, but do not interfere in native quarrels." This advice the good man honourably mentions in

his journal. We have been rather minute in relating what occurred during the few days of our connection with

the Mission of the English Universities, on the hills, because, the recorded advice having been discarded,

blame was thrown on Dr. Livingstone's shoulders, as if the missionaries had no individual responsibility for

their subsequent conduct. This, unquestionably, good Bishop Mackenzie had too much manliness to have

allowed. The connection of the members of the Zambesi Expedition, with the acts of the Bishop's Mission,

now ceased, for we returned to the ship and prepared for our journey to Lake Nyassa. We cheerfully, if

necessary, will bear all responsibility up to this point; and if the Bishop afterwards made mistakes in certain

collisions with the slavers, he had the votes of all his party with him, and those who best knew the peculiar

circumstances, and the loving disposition of this goodhearted man, will blame him least. In this position,

As a temporary measure the Bishop decided to place his Mission Station on a small promontory formed by

the windings of the little, clear stream of Magomero, which was so cold that the limbs were quite benumbed

by washing in it in the July mornings. The site chosen was a pleasant spot to the eye, and completely

surrounded by stately, shady trees. It was expected to serve for a residence, till the Bishop had acquired an

accurate knowledge of the adjacent country, and of the political relations of the people, and could select a

healthy and commanding situation, as a permanent centre of Christian civilization. Everything promised

fairly. The weather was delightful, resembling the pleasantest part of an English summer; provisions poured

in very cheap and in great abundance. The Bishop, with characteristic ardour, commenced learning the

language, Mr. Waller began building, and Mr. Scudamore improvised a sort of infant school for the children,

On the 6th of August, 1861, a few days after returning from Magomero, Drs. Livingstone and Kirk, and

Charles Livingstone started for Nyassa with a light fouroared gig, a white sailor, and a score of attendants.

We hired people along the path to carry the boat past the forty miles of the Murchison Cataracts for a cubit of

cotton cloth a day. This being deemed great wages, more than twice the men required eagerly offered their

services. The chief difficulty was in limiting their numbers. Crowds followed us; and, had we not taken down

in the morning the names of the porters engaged, in the evening claims would have been made by those who

only helped during the last ten minutes of the journey. The men of one village carried the boat to the next,

and all we had to do was to tell the headman that we wanted fresh men in the morning. He saw us pay the

first party, and had his men ready at the time appointed, so there was no delay in waiting for carriers. They

often make a loud noise when carrying heavy loads, but talking and bawling does not put them out of breath.

The country was rough and with little soil on it, but covered with grass and open forest. A few small trees

were cut down to clear a path for our shouting assistants, who were good enough to consider the boat as a

certificate of peaceful intentions at least to them. Several small streams were passed, the largest of which

were the MukuruMadse and Lesungwe. The inhabitants on both banks were now civil and obliging. Our

possession of a boat, and consequent power of crossing independently of the canoes, helped to develop their

There is often a surprising contrast between neighbouring villages. One is well off and thriving, having good

huts, plenty of food, and native cloth; and its people are frank, trusty, generous, and eager to sell provisions;

while in the next the inhabitants may be ill housed, disobliging, suspicious, illfed, and scantily clad, and

with nothing for sale, though the land around is as fertile as that of their wealthier neighbours. We followed

the river for the most part to avail ourselves of the still reaches for sailing; but a comparatively smooth

country lies further inland, over which a good road could be made. Some of the five main cataracts are very

grand, the river falling 1200 feet in the 40 miles. After passing the last of the cataracts, we launched our boat

for good on the broad and deep waters of the Upper Shire, and were virtually on the lake, for the gentle

current shows but little difference of level. The bed is broad and deep, but the course is rather tortuous at first,

and makes a long bend to the east till it comes within five or six miles of the base of Mount Zomba. The

natives regarded the Upper Shire as a prolongation of Lake Nyassa; for where what we called the river

approaches Lake Shirwa, a little north of the mountains, they said that the hippopotami, "which are great

night travellers," pass from ONE LAKE INTO THE OTHER. There the land is flat, and only a short land

journey would be necessary. Seldom does the current here exceed a knot an hour, while that of the Lower

Shire is from two to twoand ahalf knots. Our land party of Makololo accompanied us along the right

bank, and passed thousands of Manganja fugitives living in temporary huts on that side, who had recently

The soil was dry and hard, and covered with mopanetrees; but some of the Manganja were busy hoeing the

ground and planting the little corn they had brought with them. The effects of hunger were already visible on

those whose food had been seized or burned by the Ajawa and Portuguese slavetraders. The spokesman or

prime minister of one of the chiefs, named Kalonjere, was a humpbacked dwarf, a fluent speaker, who tried

hard to make us go over and drive off the Ajawa; but he could not deny that by selling people Kalonjere had

invited these slavehunters to the country. This is the second humpbacked dwarf we have found occupying

the like important post, the other was the prime minister of a Batonga chief on the Zambesi.

As we sailed along, we disturbed many whitebreasted cormorants; we had seen the same species fishing

between the cataracts. Here, with many other wildfowls, they find subsistence on the smooth water by night,

and sit sleepily on trees and in the reeds by day. Many hippopotami were seen in the river, and one of them

stretched its wide jaws, as if to swallow the whole stern of the boat, close to Dr. Kirk's back; the animal was

so near that, in opening its mouth, it lashed a quantity of water on to the sternsheets, but did no damage. To

avoid large marauding parties of Ajawa, on the left bank of the Shire, we continued on the right, or western

side, with our land party, along the shore of the small lake Pamalombe. This lakelet is ten or twelve miles in

length, and five or six broad. It is nearly surrounded by a broad belt of papyrus, so dense that we could

scarcely find an opening to the shore. The plants, ten or twelve feet high, grew so closely together that air was

excluded, and so much sulphuretted hydrogen gas evolved that by one night's exposure the bottom of the boat

was blackened. Myriads of mosquitoes showed, as probably they always do, the presence of malaria.

We hastened from this sickly spot, trying to take the attentions of the mosquitoes as hints to seek more

pleasant quarters on the healthy shores of Lake Nyassa; and when we sailed into it, on the 2nd September, we

felt refreshed by the greater coolness of the air off this large body of water. The depth was the first point of

interest. This is indicated by the colour of the water, which, on a belt along the shore, varying from a quarter

to half a mile in breadth, is light green, and this is met by the deep blue or indigo tint of the Indian Ocean,

which is the colour of the great body of Nyassa. We found the Upper Shire from nine to fifteen feet in depth;

but skirting the western side of the lake about a mile from the shore the water deepened from nine to fifteen

fathoms; then, as we rounded the grand mountainous promontory, which we named Cape Maclear, after our

excellent friend the Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, we could get no bottom with our leadline

of thirtyfive fathoms. We pulled along the western shore, which was a succession of bays, and found that

where the bottom was sandy near the beach, and to a mile out, the depth varied from six to fourteen fathoms.

In a rocky bay about latitude 11 degrees 40 minutes we had soundings at 100 fathoms, though outside the

same bay we found none with a fishingline of 116 fathoms; but this cast was unsatisfactory, as the line

broke in coming up. According to our present knowledge, a ship could anchor only near the shore.

Looking back to the southern end of Lake Nyassa, the arm from which the Shire flows was found to be about

thirty miles long and from ten to twelve broad. Rounding Cape Maclear, and looking to the south west, we

have another arm, which stretches some eighteen miles southward, and is from six to twelve miles in breadth.

These arms give the southern end a forked appearance, and with the help of a little imagination it may be

likened to the "bootshape" of Italy. The narrowest part is about the ankle, eighteen or twenty miles. From

this it widens to the north, and in the upper third or fourth it is fifty or sixty miles broad. The length is over

200 miles. The direction in which it lies is as near as possible due north and south. Nothing of the great bend

to the west, shown in all the previous maps, could be detected by either compass or chronometer, and the

watch we used was an excellent one. The season of the year was very unfavourable. The "smokes" filled the

air with an impenetrable haze, and the equinoctial gales made it impossible for us to cross to the eastern side.

When we caught a glimpse of the sun rising from behind the mountains to the east, we made sketches and

bearings of them at different latitudes, which enabled us to secure approximate measurements of the width.

These agreed with the times taken by the natives at the different crossingplacesas Tsenga and Molamba.

About the beginning of the upper third the lake is crossed by taking advantage of the island Chizumara,

which name in the native tongue means the "ending;" further north they go round the end instead, though that

The lake appeared to be surrounded by mountains, but it was afterwards found that these beautiful

treecovered heights were, on the west, only the edges of high tablelands. Like all narrow seas encircled by

highlands, it is visited by sudden and tremendous storms. We were on it in September and October, perhaps

the stormiest season of the year, and were repeatedly detained by gales. At times, while sailing pleasantly

over the blue water with a gentle breeze, suddenly and without any warning was heard the sound of a coming

storm, roaring on with crowds of angry waves in its wake. We were caught one morning with the sea

breaking all around us, and, unable either to advance or recede, anchored a mile from shore, in seven

fathoms. The furious surf on the beach would have shivered our boat to atoms, had we tried to land. The

waves most dreaded came rolling on in threes, with their crests, driven into spray, streaming behind them. A

short lull followed each triple charge. Had one of these seas struck our boat, nothing could have saved us; for

they came on with resistless force; seaward, in shore, and on either side of us, they broke in foam, but we

escaped. For six weary hours we faced those terrible trios. A low, dark, detached, oddly shaped cloud came

slowly from the mountains, and hung for hours directly over our heads. A flock of nightjars (Cometornis

vexillarius), which on no other occasion come out by day, soared above us in the gale, like birds of evil

omen. Our black crew became seasick and unable to sit up or keep the boat's head to the sea. The natives

and our land party stood on the high cliffs looking at us and exclaiming, as the waves seemed to swallow up

the boat, "They are lost! they are all dead!" When at last the gale moderated and we got safely ashore, they

saluted us warmly, as after a long absence. From this time we trusted implicitly to the opinions of our

seaman, John Neil, who, having been a fisherman on the coast of Ireland, understood boating on a stormy

coast, and by his advice we often sat cowering on the land for days together waiting for the surf to go down.

He had never seen such waves before. We had to beach the boat every night to save her from being swamped

at anchor; and, did we not believe the gales to be peculiar to one season of the year, would call Nyassa the

Distinct white marks on the rocks showed that, for some time during the rainy season, the water of the lake is

three feet above the point to which it falls towards the close of the dry period of the year. The rains begin here

in November, and the permanent rise of the Shire does not take place till January. The western side of Lake

Nyassa, with the exception of the great harbour to the west of Cape Maclear, is, as has been said before, a

succession of small bays of nearly similar form, each having an open sandy beach and pebbly shore, and

being separated from its neighbour by a rocky headland, with detached rocks extending some distance out to

sea. The great southwestern bay referred to would form a magnificent harbour, the only really good one we

The land immediately adjacent to the lake is low and fertile, though in some places marshy and tenanted by

large flocks of ducks, geese, herons, crowned cranes, and other birds. In the southern parts we have

sometimes ten or a dozen miles of rich plains, bordered by what seem high ranges of wellwooded hills,

running nearly parallel with the lake. Northwards the mountains become loftier and present some magnificent

views, range towering beyond range, until the dim, lofty outlines projected against the sky bound the

prospect. Still further north the plain becomes more narrow, until, near where we turned, it disappears

altogether, and the mountains rise abruptly out of the lake, forming the northeast boundary of what was

described to us as an extensive tableland; well suited for pasturage and agriculture, and now only partially

occupied by a tribe of Zulus, who came from the south some years ago. These people own large herds of

The Lake tribesThe MazituQuantities of elephantsDistressing journeyDetention on the Shire.

Never before in Africa have we seen anything like the dense population on the shores of Lake Nyassa. In the

southern part there was an almost unbroken chain of villages. On the beach of wellnigh of every little sandy

bay, dark crowds were standing, gazing at the novel sight of a boat under sail; and wherever we landed we

were surrounded in a few seconds by hundreds of men, women, and children, who hastened to have a stare at

During a portion of the year, the northern dwellers on the lake have a harvest which furnishes a singular sort

of food. As we approached our limit in that direction, clouds, as of smoke rising from miles of burning grass,

were observed bending in a southeasterly direction, and we thought that the unseen land on the opposite side

was closing in, and that we were near the end of the lake. But next morning we sailed through one of the

clouds on our own side, and discovered that it was neither smoke nor haze, but countless millions of minute

midges called "kungo" (a cloud or fog). They filled the air to an immense height, and swarmed upon the

water, too light to sink in it. Eyes and mouth had to be kept closed while passing through this living cloud:

they struck upon the face like fine drifting snow. Thousands lay in the boat when she emerged from the cloud

of midges. The people gather these minute insects by night, and boil them into thick cakes, to be used as a

relishmillions of midges in a cake. A kungo cake, an inch thick, and as large as the blue bonnet of a Scotch

ploughman, was offered to us; it was very dark in colour, and tasted not unlike caviare, or salted locusts.

Abundance of excellent fish is found in the lake, and nearly all were new to us. The mpasa, or sanjika, found

by Dr. Kirk to be a kind of carp, was running up the rivers to spawn, like our salmon at home: the largest we

saw was over two feet in length; it is a splendid fish, and the best we have ever eaten in Africa. They were

ascending the rivers in August and September, and furnished active and profitable employment to many

fishermen, who did not mind their being out of season. Weirs were constructed full of sluices, in each of

which was set a large baskettrap, through whose single tortuous opening the fish once in has but small

chance of escape. A short distance below the weir, nets are stretched across from bank to bank, so that it

seemed a marvel how the most sagacious sanjika could get up at all without being taken. Possibly a passage

up the river is found at night; but this is not the country of Sundays or "close times" for either men or fish.

The lake fish are caught chiefly in nets, although men, and even women with babies on their backs, are

A net with small meshes is used for catching the young fry of a silvery kind like pickerel, when they are

about two inches long; thousands are often taken in a single haul. We had a present of a large bucketful one

day for dinner: they tasted as if they had been cooked with a little quinine, probably from their gallbladders

being left in. In deep water, some sorts are taken by lowering fish baskets attached by a long cord to a float,

around which is often tied a mass of grass or weeds, as an alluring shade for the deepsea fish. Fleets of fine

canoes are engaged in the fisheries. The men have long paddles, and stand erect while using them. They

sometimes venture out when a considerable sea is running. Our Makololo acknowledge that, in handling

canoes, the Lake men beat them; they were unwilling to cross the Zambesi even, when the wind blew fresh.

Though there are many crocodiles in the lake, and some of an extraordinary size, the fishermen say that it is a

rare thing for any one to be carried off by these reptiles. When crocodiles can easily obtain abundance of

fishtheir natural foodthey seldom attack men; but when unable to see to catch their prey, from the

Many men and boys are employed in gathering the buaze, in preparing the fibre, and in making it into long

nets. The knot of the net is different from ours, for they invariably use what sailors call the reef knot, but they

net with a needle like that we use. From the amount of native cotton cloth worn in many of the southern

villages, it is evident that a great number of hands and heads must be employed in the cultivation of cotton,

and in the various slow processes through which it has to pass, before the web is finished in the native loom.

In addition to this branch of industry, an extensive manufacture of cloth, from the inner bark of an

undescribed tree, of the botanical group, Caesalpineae, is ever going on, from one end of the lake to the other;

and both toil and time are required to procure the bark, and to prepare it by pounding and steeping it to render

it soft and pliable. The prodigious amount of the bark clothing worn indicates the destruction of an immense

number of trees every year; yet the adjacent heights seem still well covered with timber.

The Lake people are by no means handsome: the women are VERY plain; and really make themselves

hideous by the means they adopt to render themselves attractive. The pelele, or ornament for the upper lip, is

universally worn by the ladies; the most valuable is of pure tin, hammered into the shape of a small dish;

some are made of white quartz, and give the wearer the appearance of having an inch or more of one of

Price's patent candles thrust through the lip, and projecting beyond the tip of the nose.

In character, the Lake tribes are very much like other people; there are decent men among them, while a good

many are no better than they should be. They are openhanded enough: if one of us, as was often the case,

went to see a net drawn, a fish was always offered. Sailing one day past a number of men, who had just

dragged their nets ashore, at one of the fine fisheries at Pamalombe, we were hailed and asked to stop, and

received a liberal donation of beautiful fish. Arriving late one afternoon at a small village on the lake, a

number of the inhabitants manned two canoes, took out their seine, dragged it, and made us a present of the

entire haul. The northern chief, Marenga, a tall handsome man, with a fine aquiline nose, whom we found

living in his stockade in a forest about twenty miles north of the mountain Kowirwe, behaved like a

gentleman to us. His land extended from Dambo to the north of Makuza hill. He was specially generous, and

gave us bountiful presents of food and beer. "Do they wear such things in your country?" he asked, pointing

to his iron bracelet, which was studded with copper, and highly prized. The Doctor said he had never seen

such in his country, whereupon Marenga instantly took it off, and presented it to him, and his wife also did

the same with hers. On our return south from the mountains near the north end of the lake, we reached

Marenga's on the 7th October. When he could not prevail upon us to forego the advantage of a fair wind for

his invitation to "spend the whole day drinking his beer, which was," he said, "quite ready," he loaded us with

provisions, all of which he sent for before we gave him any present. In allusion to the boat's sail, his people

said that they had no Bazimo, or none worth having, seeing they had never invented the like for them. The

chief, Mankambira, likewise treated us with kindness; but wherever the slavetrade is carried on, the people

are dishonest and uncivil; that invariably leaves a blight and a curse in its path. The first question put to us at

the lake crossingplaces, was, "Have you come to buy slaves?" On hearing that we were English, and never

purchased slaves, the questioners put on a supercilious air, and sometimes refused to sell us food. This want

of respect to us may have been owing to the impressions conveyed to them by the Arabs, whose dhows have

sometimes been taken by English cruisers when engaged in lawful trade. Much foreign cloth, beads, and

By Chitanda, near one of the slave crossingplaces, we were robbed for the first time in Africa, and learned

by experience that these people, like more civilized nations, have expert thieves among them. It might be

only a coincidence; but we never suffered from impudence, loss of property, or were endangered, unless

among people familiar with slaving. We had such a general sense of security, that never, save when we

suspected treachery, did we set a watch at night. Our native companions had, on this occasion, been carousing

on beer, and had removed to a distance of some thirty yards, that we might not overhear their free and easy

afterdinner remarks, and two of us had a slight touch of fever; between three and four o'clock in the morning

some thieves came, while we slept ingloriouslyrifles and revolvers all ready,and relieved us of most of

our goods. The boat's sail, under which we slept, was open all around, so the feat was easy.

Awaking as honest men do, at the usual hour, the loss of one was announced by "My bag is gonewith all

my clothes; and my boots too!" "And mine!" responded a second. "And mine also!" chimed in the third, "with

the bag of beads, and the rice!" "Is the cloth taken?" was the eager inquiry, as that would have been

equivalent to all our money. It had been used for a pillow that night, and thus saved. The rogues left on the

beach, close to our beds, the Aneroid Barometer and a pair of boots, thinking possibly that they might be of

use to us, or, at least, that they could be of none to them. They shoved back some dried plants and fishes into

one bag, but carried off many other specimens we had collected; some of our notes also, and nearly all our

We could not suspect the people of the village near which we lay. We had probably been followed for days

by the thieves watching for an opportunity. And our suspicions fell on some persons who had come from the

East Coast; but having no evidence, and expecting to hear if our goods were exposed for sale in the vicinity,

we made no fuss about it, and began to make new clothing. That our rifles and revolvers were left untouched

was greatly to our advantage: yet we felt it was most humiliating for armed men to have been so thoroughly

Some of the best fisheries appear to be private property. We found shelter from a storm one morning in a

spacious lagoon, which communicated with the lake by a narrow passage. Across this strait stakes were

driven in, leaving only spaces for the basket fishtraps. A score of men were busily engaged in taking out the

fish. We tried to purchase some, but they refused to sell. The fish did not belong to them, they would send for

the proprietor of the place. The proprietor arrived in a short time, and readily sold what we wanted.

Some of the buryinggrounds are very well arranged, and well cared for; this was noticed at Chitanda, and

more particularly at a village on the southern shore of the fine harbour at Cape Maclear. Wide and neat paths

were made in the buryingground on its eastern and southern sides. A grand old figtree stood at the

northeast corner, and its widespreading branches threw their kindly shade over the last restingplace of the

dead. Several other magnificent trees grew around the hallowed spot. Mounds were raised as they are at

home, but all lay north and south, the heads apparently north. The graves of the sexes were distinguished by

the various implements which the buried dead had used in their different employments during life; but they

were all broken, as if to be employed no more. A piece of fishingnet and a broken paddle told where a

fisherman lay. The graves of the women had the wooden mortar, and the heavy pestle used in pounding the

corn, and the basket in which the meal is sifted, while all had numerous broken calabashes and pots arranged

around them. The idea that the future life is like the present does not appear to prevail; yet a bananatree had

been carefully planted at the head of several of the graves; the fruit might be considered an offering to those

who still possess human tastes. The people of the neighbouring villages were friendly and obliging, and

Pursuing our exploration, we found that the northern part of the lake was the abode of lawlessness and

bloodshed. The Mazite, or Mazitu, live on the highlands, and make sudden swoops on the villages of the

plains. They are Zulus who came originally from the south, inland of Sofalla and Inhambane; and are of the

same family as those who levy annual tribute from the Portuguese on the Zambesi. All the villages north of

Mankambira's (lat. 11 degrees 44 minutes south) had been recently destroyed by these terrible marauders, but

they were foiled in their attacks upon that chief and Marenga. The thickets and stockades round their villages

enabled the bowmen to pick off the Mazitu in security, while they were afraid to venture near any place

where they could not use their shields. Beyond Mankambira's we saw burned villages, and the putrid bodies

of many who had fallen by Mazitu spears only a few days before. Our land party were afraid to go further.

This reluctance to proceed without the presence of a white man was very natural, because bands of the enemy

who had ravaged the country were supposed to be still roaming about; and if these marauders saw none but

men of their own colour, our party might forthwith be attacked. Compliance with their request led to an event

which might have been attended by very serious consequences. Dr. Livingstone got separated from the party

in the boat for four days. Having taken the first morning's journey along with them, and directing the boat to

call for him in a bay in sight, both parties proceeded north. In an hour Dr. Livingstone and his party struck

inland, on approaching the foot of the mountains which rise abruptly from the lake. Supposing that they had

heard of a path behind the high range which there forms the shore, those in the boat held on their course; but

it soon began to blow so fresh that they had to run ashore for safety. While delayed a couple of hours, two

men were sent up the hills to look for the land party, but they could see nothing of them, and the boat party

sailed as soon as it was safe to put to sea, with the conviction that the missing ones would regain the lake in

In a short time a small island or mass of rocks was passed, on which were a number of armed Mazitu with

some young women, apparently their wives. The headman said that he had been wounded in the foot by

Mankambira, and that they were staying there till he could walk to his chief, who lived over the hills. They

had several large canoes, and it was evident that this was a nest of lake pirates, who sallied out by night to kill

and plunder. They reported a path behind the hills, and, the crew being reassured, the boat sailed on. A few

miles further, another and still larger band of pirates were fallen in with, and hundreds of crows and kites

hovered over and round the rocks on which they lived. Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone, though ordered in a

voice of authority to come ashore, kept on their course. A number of canoes then shot out from the rocks and

chased them. One with nine strong paddlers persevered for some time after all the others gave up the chase. A

good breeze, however, enabled the gig to get away from them with ease. After sailing twelve or fifteen miles,

north of the point where Dr. Livingstone had left them, it was decided that he must be behind; but no sooner

had the boat's head been turned south, than another gale compelled her to seek shelter in a bay. Here a

number of wretched fugitives from the slavetrade on the opposite shore of the lake were found; the original

inhabitants of the place had all been swept off the year before by the Mazitu. In the deserted gardens beautiful

cotton was seen growing, much of it had the staple an inch and a half long, and of very fine quality. Some of

On their trying to purchase food, the natives had nothing to sell except a little dried cassavaroot, and a few

fish: and they demanded two yards of calico for the head only of a large fish. When the gale admitted of their

return, their former pursuers tried to draw them ashore by asserting that they had quantities of ivory for sale.

Owing to a succession of gales, it was the fourth day from parting that the boat was found by Dr. Livingstone,

After proceeding a short distance up the path in which they had been lost sight of, they learned that it would

take several days to go round the mountains, and rejoin the lake; and they therefore turned down to the bay,

expecting to find the boat, but only saw it disappearing away to the north. They pushed on as briskly as

possible after it, but the mountain flank which forms the coast proved excessively tedious and fatiguing;

travelling all day, the distance made, in a straight line, was under five miles. As soon as day dawned, the

march was resumed; and, after hearing at the first inhabited rock that their companions had passed it the day

before, a goat was slaughtered out of the four which they had with them, when suddenly, to the evident

consternation of the men, seven Mazitu appeared armed with spears and shields, with their heads dressed

fantastically with feathers. To hold a parley, Dr. Livingstone and Moloka, a Makololo man who spoke Zulu,

went unarmed to meet them. On Dr. Livingstone approaching them, they ordered him to stop, and sit down in

the sun, while they sat in the shade. No, no!" was the reply, "if you sit in the shade, so will we." They then

rattled their shields with their clubs, a proceeding which usually inspires terror; but Moloka remarked, "It is

not the first time we have heard shields rattled." And all sat down together. They asked for a present, to show

their chief that they had actually met strangers something as evidence of having seen men who were not

Arabs. And they were requested in turn to take these strangers to the boat, or to their chief. All the goods

were in the boat, and to show that no present such as they wanted was in his pockets, Dr. Livingstone emptied

them, turning out, among other things, a notebook: thinking it was a pistol they started up, and said, "Put

that in again." The younger men then became boisterous, and demanded a goat. That could not be spared, as

they were the sole provisions. When they insisted, they were asked how many of the party they had killed,

that they thus began to divide the spoil; this evidently made them ashamed. The elders were more reasonable;

they dreaded treachery, and were as much afraid of Dr. Livingstone and his party as his men were of them;

for on leaving they sped away up the hills like frightened deer. One of them, and probably the leader, was

married, as seen by portions of his hair sewn into a ring; all were observed by their teeth to be people of the

The way still led over a succession of steep ridges with ravines of from 500 to 1000 feet in depth; some of the

sides had to be scaled on hands and knees, and no sooner was the top reached than the descent began again.

Each ravine had a running stream; and the whole country, though so very rugged, had all been cultivated, and

densely peopled. Many bananatrees, uncared for patches of corn, and Congo bean bushes attested former

cultivation. The population had all been swept away; ruined villages, broken utensils, and human skeletons,

met with at every turn, told a sad tale. So numerous were the slain, that it was thought the inhabitants had

Continuing the journey that night as long as light served, they slept unconsciously on the edge of a deep

precipice, without fire, lest the Mazitu should see it. Next morning most of the men were tired out, the dread

of the apparition of the day before tending probably to increase the lameness of which they complained.

When told, however, that all might return to Mankambira's save two, Moloka and Charlie, they would not, till

assured that the act would not be considered one of cowardice. Giving them one of the goats as provision,

another was slaughtered for the remainder of the party who, having found on the rocks a canoe which had

belonged to one of the deserted villages, determined to put to sea again; but the craft was very small, and the

remaining goat, spite of many a threat of having its throat cut, jumped and rolled about so, as nearly to

capsize it; so Dr. Livingstone took to the shore again, and after another night spent without fire, except just

We pulled that day to Mankambira's, a distance that on shore, with the most heartbreaking toil, had taken

three days to travel. This was the last latitude taken, 11 degrees 44 minutes S. The boat had gone about 24

minutes further to the north, the land party probably half that distance, but fever prevented the instruments

being used. Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone were therefore furthest up the lake, and they saw about 20

minutes beyond their turningpoint, say into the tenth degree of south latitude. From the heights of at least a

thousand feet, over which the land party toiled, the dark mountain masses on both sides of the lake were seen

closing in. At this elevation the view extended at least as far as that from the boats, and it is believed the end

of the lake lies on the southern borders of 10 degrees, or the northern limits of 11 degrees south latitude.

Elephants are numerous on the borders of the lake, and surprisingly tame, being often found close to the

villages. Hippopotami swarm very much at their ease in the creeks and lagoons, and herds are sometimes

seen in the lake itself. Their tameness arises from the fact that poisoned arrows have no effect on either

elephant or hippopotamus. Five of each were shot for food during our journey. Two of the elephants were

females, and had only a single tusk apiece, and were each killed by the first shot. It is always a case of famine

or satiety when depending on the rifle for fooda glut of meat or none at all. Most frequently it is scanty

fare, except when game is abundant, as it is far up the Zambesi. We had one morning two hippopotami and an

elephant, perhaps in all some eight tons of meat, and two days after the last of a few sardines only for dinner.

One morning when sailing past a pretty thicklyinhabited part, we were surprised at seeing nine large

bullelephants standing near the beach quietly flapping their gigantic ears. Glad of an opportunity of getting

some fresh meat, we landed and fired into one. They all retreated into a marshy piece of ground between two

villages. Our men gave chase, and fired into the herd. Standing on a sand hummock, we could see the

bleeding animals throwing showers of water with their trunks over their backs. The herd was soon driven

back upon us, and a wounded one turned to bay. Yet neither this one, nor any of the others, ever attempted to

charge. Having broken his legs with a rifleball, we fired into him at forty yards as rapidly as we could load

and discharge the rifles. He simply shook his head at each shot, and received at least sixty Enfield balls

before he fell. Our excellent sailor from the north of Ireland happened to fire the last, and, as soon as he saw

the animal fall, he turned with an air of triumph to the Doctor and exclaimed, "It was MY shot that done it,

In a few minutes upwards of a thousand natives were round the prostrate king of beasts; and, after our men

had taken all they wanted, an invitation was given to the villagers to take the remainder. They rushed at it like

hungry hyenas, and in an incredibly short time every inch of it was carried off. It was only by knowing that

the meat would all be used that we felt justified in the slaughter of this noble creature. The tusks weighed 62

lbs. each. A large amount of ivory might be obtained from the people of Nyassa, and we were frequently told

While detained by a storm on the 17th October at the mouth of the Kaombe, we were visited by several men

belonging to an Arab who had been for fourteen years in the interior at Katanga's, south of Cazembe's. They

had just brought down ivory, malachite, copper rings, and slaves to exchange for cloth at the lake. The

malachite was said to be dug out of a large vein on the side of a hill near Katanga's. They knew Lake

Tanganyika well, but had not heard of the Zambesi. They spoke quite positively, saying that the water of

Lake Tanganyika flowed out by the opposite end to that of Nyassa. As they had seen neither of the overflows,

we took it simply as a piece of Arab geography. We passed their establishment of long sheds next day, and

The Lake slavetrade was going on at a terrible rate. Two enterprising Arabs had built a dhow, and were

running her, crowded with slaves, regularly across the Lake. We were told she sailed the day before we

reached their headquarters. This establishment is in the latitude of the Portuguese slaveexporting town of

Iboe, and partly supplies that vile market; but the greater number of the slaves go to Kilwa. We did not see

much evidence of a wish to barter. Some ivory was offered for sale; but the chief traffic was in human

chattels. Would that we could give a comprehensive account of the horrors of the slavetrade, with an

approximation to the number of lives it yearly destroys! for we feel sure that were even half the truth told and

recognized, the feelings of men would be so thoroughly roused, that this devilish traffic in human flesh would

be put down at all risks; but neither we, nor any one else, have the statistics necessary for a work of this kind.

Let us state what we do know of one portion of Africa, and then every reader who believes our tale can apply

the ratio of the known misery to find out the unknown. We were informed by Colonel Rigby, late H.M.

Political Agent, and Consul at Zanzibar, that 19,000 slaves from this Nyassa country alone pass annually

through the Customhouse of that island. This is exclusive of course of those sent to Portuguese slaveports.

Let it not be supposed for an instant that this number, 19,000, represents all the victims. Those taken out of

the country are but a very small section of the sufferers. We never realized the atrocious nature of the traffic,

until we saw it at the fountainhead. There truly "Satan has his seat." Besides those actually captured,

thousands are killed and die of their wounds and famine, driven from their villages by the slave raid proper.

Thousands perish in internecine war waged for slaves with their own clansmen and neighbours, slain by the

lust of gain, which is stimulated, be it remembered always, by the slave purchasers of Cuba and elsewhere.

The many skeletons we have seen, amongst rocks and woods, by the little pools, and along the paths of the

wilderness, attest the awful sacrifice of human life, which must be attributed, directly or indirectly, to this

trade of hell. We would ask our countrymen to believe us when we say, as we conscientiously can, that it is

our deliberate opinion, from what we know and have seen, that not one fifth of the victims of the

slavetrade ever become slaves. Taking the Shire Valley as an average, we should say not even onetenth

arrive at their destination. As the system, therefore, involves such an awful waste of human life,or shall we

say of human labour?and moreover tends directly to perpetuate the barbarism of those who remain in the

country, the argument for the continuance of this wasteful course because, forsooth, a fraction of the enslaved

may find good masters, seems of no great value. This reasoning, if not the result of ignorance, may be of

maudlin philanthropy. A small armed steamer on Lake Nyassa could easily, by exercising a control, and

furnishing goods in exchange for ivory and other products, break the neck of this infamous traffic in that

Our exploration of the Lake extended from the 2nd September to the 27th October, 1861; and, having

expended or lost most of the goods we had brought, it was necessary to go back to the ship. When near the

southern end, on our return, we were told that a very large slave party had just crossed to the eastern side.

We heard the fire of three guns in the evening, and judged by the report that they must be at least

In descending the Shire, we found concealed in the broad belt of papyrus round the lakelet Pamalombe, into

which the river expands, a number of Manganja families who had been driven from their homes by the Ajawa

raids. So thickly did the papyrus grow, that when beat down it supported their small temporary huts, though

when they walked from one hut to another, it heaved and bent beneath their feet as thin ice does at home.

A dense and impenetrable forest of the papyrus was left standing between them and the land, and no one

passing by on the same side would ever have suspected that human beings lived there. They came to this spot

from the south by means of their canoes, which enabled them to obtain a living from the fine fish which

abound in the lakelet. They had a large quantity of excellent salt sewed up in bark, some of which we bought,

our own having run out. We anchored for the night off their floating camp, and were visited by myriads of

mosquitoes. Some of the natives show a love of country quite surprising. We saw fugitives on the mountains,

in the north of the lake, who were persisting in clinging to the haunts of their boyhood and youth, in spite of

A few miles below the lakelet is the last of the great slave crossings. Since the Ajawa invasion the villages

on the left bank had been abandoned, and the people, as we saw in our ascent, were living on the right or

As we were resting for a few minutes opposite the valuable fishery at Movunguti, a young

effeminatelooking man from some seacoast tribe came in great state to have a look at us. He walked under

a large umbrella, and was followed by five handsome damsels gaily dressed and adorned with a view to

attract purchasers. One was carrying his pipe for smoking bang, here called "chamba;" another his bow and

arrows; a third his battleaxe; a fourth one of his robes; while the last was ready to take his umbrella when he

felt tired. This show of his merchandise was to excite the cupidity of any chief who had ivory, and may be

called the lawful way of carrying on the slavetrade. What proportion it bears to the other ways in which we

have seen this traffic pursued, we never found means of forming a judgment. He sat and looked at us for a

few minutes, the young ladies kneeling behind him; and having satisfied himself that we were not likely to be

On our first trip we met, at the landing opposite this place, a middleaged woman of considerable

intelligence, and possessing more knowledge of the country than any of the men. Our first definite

information about Lake Nyassa was obtained from her. Seeing us taking notes, she remarked that she had

been to the sea, and had there seen white men writing. She had seen camels also, probably among the Arabs.

She was the only Manganja woman we ever met who was ashamed of wearing the "pelele," or lipring. She

retired to her hut, took it out, and kept her hand before her mouth to hide the hideous hole in the lip while

conversing with us. All the villagers respected her, and even the headmen took a secondary place in her

presence. On inquiring for her now, we found that she was dead. We never obtained sufficient materials to

estimate the relative mortality of the highlands and lowlands; but, from many very old whiteheaded blacks

having been seen on the highlands, we think it probable that even native races are longer lived the higher

We landed below at Mikena's and took observations for longitude, to verify those taken two years before. The

village was deserted, Mikena and his people having fled to the other side of the river. A few had come across

this morning to work in their old gardens. After completing the observations we had breakfast; and, as the last

of the things were being carried into the boat, a Manganja man came running down to his canoe, crying out,

"The Ajawa have just killed my comrade!" We shoved off, and in two minutes the advanced guard of a large

marauding party were standing with their muskets on the spot where we had taken breakfast. They were

evidently surprised at seeing us there, and halted; as did also the main body of perhaps a thousand men. "Kill

them," cried the Manganja; "they are going up to the hills to kill the English," meaning the missionaries we

had left at Magomero. But having no prospect of friendly communication with them, nor confidence in

Manganja's testimony, we proceeded down the river; leaving the Ajawa sitting under a large baobab, and the

On our way up, we had seen that the people of Zimika had taken refuge on a long island in the Shire, where

they had placed stores of grain to prevent it falling into the hands of the Ajawa; supposing afterwards that the

invasion and war were past, they had removed back again to the mainland on the east, and were living in

fancied security. On approaching the chief's village, which was built in the midst of a beautiful grove of lofty

wildfig and palm trees, sounds of revelry fell upon our ears. The people were having a merry time

drumming, dancing, and drinking beerwhile a powerful enemy was close at hand, bringing death or slavery

to every one in the village. One of our men called out to several who came to the bank to look at us, that the

Ajawa were coming and were even now at Mikena's village; but they were dazed with drinking, and took no

Crowds of carriers offered their services after we left the river. Several sets of them placed so much

confidence in us, as to decline receiving payment at the end of the first day; they wished to work another day,

and so receive both days' wages in one piece. The young headman of a new village himself came on with his

men. The march was a pretty long one, and one of the men proposed to lay the burdens down beside a hut a

mile or more from the next village. The headman scolded the fellow for his meanness in wishing to get rid of

our goods where we could not procure carriers, and made him carry them on. The village, at the foot of the

cataracts, had increased very much in size and wealth since we passed it on our way up. A number of large

new huts had been built; and the people had a good stock of cloth and beads. We could not account for this

sudden prosperity, until we saw some fine large canoes, instead of the two old, leaky things which lay there

before. This had become a crossingplace for the slaves that the Portuguese agents were carrying to Tette,

because they were afraid to take them across nearer to where the ship lay, about seven miles off. Nothing was

more disheartening than this conduct of the Manganja, in profiting by the entire breaking up of their nation.

We reached the ship on the 8th of November, 1861, in a very weak condition, having suffered more from

hunger than on any previous trip. Heavy rains commenced on the 9th, and continued several days; the river

rose rapidly, and became highly discoloured. Bishop Mackenzie came down to the ship on the 14th, with

some of the "Pioneer's" men, who had been at Magomero for the benefit of their health, and also for the

purpose of assisting the Mission. The Bishop appeared to be in excellent spirits, and thought that the future

promised fair for peace and usefulness. The Ajawa having been defeated and driven off while we were on the

Lake, had sent word that they desired to live at peace with the English. Many of the Manganja had settled

round Magomero, in order to be under the protection of the Bishop; and it was hoped that the slavetrade

would soon cease in the highlands, and the people be left in the secure enjoyment of their industry. The

Mission, it was also anticipated, might soon become, to a considerable degree, selfsupporting, and raise

certain kinds of food, like the Portuguese of Senna and Quillimane. Mr. Burrup, an energetic young man, had

arrived at Chibisa's the day before the Bishop, having come up the Shire in a canoe. A surgeon and a lay

brother followed behind in another canoe. The "Pioneer's" draught being too much for the upper part of the

Shire, it was not deemed advisable to bring her up, on the next trip, further than the Ruo; the Bishop,

therefore, resolved to explore the country from Magomero to the mouth of that river, and to meet the ship

with his sisters and Mrs. Burrup, in January. This was arranged before parting, and then the good Bishop and

Burrup, whom we were never to meet again, left us; they gave and received three hearty English cheers as

The rains ceased on the 14th, and the waters of the Shire fell, even more rapidly than they had risen. A shoal,

twenty miles below Chibisa's, checked our further progress, and we lay there five weary weeks, till the

permanent rise of the river took place. During this detention, with a large marsh on each side, the first death

occurred in the Expedition which had now been threeandahalf years in the country. The carpenter's mate,

a fine healthy young man, was seized with fever. The usual remedies had no effect; he died suddenly while

we were at evening prayers, and was buried on shore. He came out in the "Pioneer," and, with the exception

of a slight touch of fever at the mouth of the Rovuma, had enjoyed perfect health all the time he had been

with us. The Portuguese are of opinion that the European who has immunity from this disease for any length

of time after he enters the country is more likely to be cut off by it when it does come, than the man who has

The rains became pretty general towards the close of December, and the Shire was in flood in the beginning

of January, 1862. At our woodingplace, a mile above the Ruo, the water was three feet higher than it was

when we were here in June; and on the night of the 6th it rose eighteen inches more, and swept down an

immense amount of brushwood and logs which swarmed with beetles and the two kinds of shells which are

common all over the African continent. Natives in canoes were busy spearing fish in the meadows and

creeks, and appeared to be taking them in great numbers. Spurwinged geese, and others of the knobnosed

species, took advantage of the low gardens being flooded, and came to pilfer the beans. As we passed the

Ruo, on the 7th, and saw nothing of the Bishop, we concluded that he had heard from his surgeon of our

detention, and had deferred his journey. He arrived there five days after, on the 12th.

After paying our Senna men, as they wished to go home, we landed them here. All were keen traders, and had

invested largely in native ironhoes, axes, and ornaments. Many of the hoes and spears had been taken from

the slaving parties whose captives we liberated; for on these occasions our Senna friends were always

uncommonly zealous and active. The remainder had been purchased with the old clothes we had given them

and their store of hippopotamus meat: they had no fear of losing them, or of being punished for aiding us.

The system, in which they had been trained, had eradicated the idea of personal responsibility from their

minds. The Portuguese slaveholders would blame the English alone, they said; they were our servants at the

time. No white man on board could purchase so cheaply as these men could. Many a time had their eloquence

persuaded a native trader to sell for a bit of dirty worn cloth things for which he had, but a little before,

refused twice the amount of clean new calico. "Scissors" being troubled with a cough at night, received a

present of a quilted coverlet, which had seen a good deal of service. A few days afterwards, a good chance of

investing in hoes offering itself, he ripped off both sides, tore them into a dozen pieces, and purchased about

We entered the Zambesi on the 11th of January, and steamed down towards the coast, taking the side on

which we had come up; but the channel had changed to the other side during the summer, as it sometimes

does, and we soon grounded. A Portuguese gentleman, formerly a lieutenant in the army, and now living on

Sangwisa, one of the islands of the Zambesi, came over with his slaves, to aid us in getting the ship off. He

said frankly, that his people were all great thieves, and we must be on our guard not to leave anything about.

He next made a short speech to his men, told them he knew what thieves they were, but implored them not to

steal from us, as we would give them a present of cloth when the work was done. "The natives of this

country," he remarked to us, "think only of three things, what they shall eat and drink, how many wives they

can have, and what they may steal from their master, if not how they may murder him." He always slept with

a loaded musket by his side. This opinion may apply to slaves, but decidedly does not in our experience apply

to freemen. We paid his men for helping us, and believe that even they, being paid, stole nothing from us.

Our friend farms pretty extensively the large island called Sangwisa,lent him for nothing by Senhor

Ferrao,and raises large quantities of mapira and beans, and also beautiful white rice, grown from seed

brought a few years ago from South Carolina. He furnished us with some, which was very acceptable; for

though not in absolute want, we were living on beans, salt pork, and fowls, all the biscuit and flour on board

We fully expected that the owners of the captives we had liberated would show their displeasure, at least by

their tongues; but they seemed ashamed; only one ventured a remark, and he, in the course of common

conversation, said, with a smile, "You took the Governor's slaves, didn't you?" "Yes, we did free several

gangs that we met in the Manganja country." The Portuguese of Tette, from the Governor downwards, were

extensively engaged in slaving. The trade is partly internal and partly external: they send some of the

captives, and those bought, into the interior, up the Zambesi: some of these we actually met on their way up

the river. The young women were sold there for ivory: an ordinarylooking one brought two arrobas, sixty

four pounds weight, and an extra beauty brought twice that amount. The men and boys were kept as carriers,

to take the ivory down from the interior to Tette, or were retained on farms on the Zambesi, ready for export

if a slaver should call: of this last mode of slaving we were witnesses also. The slaves were sent down the

river chained, and in large canoes. This went on openly at Tette, and more especially so while the French

"Free Emigration" system was in full operation. This double mode of disposing of the captives pays better

than the single system of sending them down to the coast for exportation. One merchant at Tette, with whom

we were well acquainted, sent into the interior three hundred Manganja women to be sold for ivory, and

Arrival of H.M.S. "Gorgon"Dr. Livingstone's new steamer and Mrs. LivingstoneDeath of Mrs.

LivingstoneVoyage to Johanna and the RovumaAn attack upon the "Pioneer's" boats.

We anchored on the Great Luabo mouth of the Zambesi, because wood was much more easily obtained there

On the 30th, H.M.S. "Gorgon" arrived, towing the brig which brought Mrs. Livingstone, some ladies about to

join their relatives in the Universities' Mission, and the twentyfour sections of a new iron steamer intended

for the navigation of Lake Nyassa. The "Pioneer" steamed out, and towed the brig into the Kongone harbour.

The new steamer was called the "Lady of the Lake," or the "Lady Nyassa," and as much as could be carried

of her in one trip was placed, by the help of the officers and men of the "Gorgon," on board the "Pioneer,"

and the two large paddlebox boats of H.M.'s ship. We steamed off for Ruo on the 10th of February, having

on board Captain Wilson, with a number of his officers and men to help us to discharge the cargo. Our

progress up was distressingly slow. The river was in flood, and we had a threeknot current against us in

many places. These delays kept us six months in the delta, instead of, as we anticipated, only six days; for,

finding it impossible to carry the sections up to the Ruo without great loss of time, it was thought best to land

them at Shupanga, and, putting the hull of the "Lady Nyassa" together there, to tow her up to the foot of the

A few days before the "Pioneer" reached Shupanga, Captain Wilson, seeing the hopeless state of affairs,

generously resolved to hasten with the Mission ladies up to those who, we thought, were anxiously awaiting

their arrival, and therefore started in his gig for the Ruo, taking Miss Mackenzie, Mrs. Burrup, and his

surgeon, Dr. Ramsay. They were accompanied by Dr. Kirk and Mr. Sewell, paymaster of the "Gorgon," in

the whaleboat of the "Lady Nyassa." As our slowpaced launch, "Ma Robert," had formerly gone up to the

foot of the cataracts in nine days' steaming, it was supposed that the boats might easily reach the expected

meetingplace at the Ruo in a week; but the Shire was now in flood, and in its most rapid state; and they

were longer in getting up about half the distance, than it was hoped they would be in the whole navigable part

of the river. They could hear nothing of the Bishop from the chief of the island, Malo, at the mouth of the

Ruo. "No white man had ever come to his village," he said. They proceeded on to Chibisa's, suffering terribly

from mosquitoes at night. Their toil in stemming the rapid current made them estimate the distance, by the

windings, as nearer 300 than 200 miles. The Makololo who had remained at Chibisa's told them the sad news

of the death of the good Bishop and of Mr. Burrup. Other information received there awakened fresh anxiety

on behalf of the survivors; so, leaving the ladies with Dr. Ramsay and the Makololo, Captain Wilson and Dr.

Kirk went up the hills, in hopes of being able to render assistance, and on the way they met some of the

Mission party at Soche's. The excessive fatigue that our friends had undergone in the voyage up to Chibisa's

in no wise deterred them from this further attempt for the benefit of their countrymen, but the fresh labour,

with diminished rations, was too much for their strength. They were reduced to a diet of native beans and an

occasional fowl. Both became very ill of fever, Captain Wilson so dangerously that his fellowsufferer lost

all hopes of his recovery. His strong ablebodied cockswain did good service in cheerfully carrying his

muchloved Commander, and they managed to return to the boat, and brought the two bereaved and

We learnt that the Bishop, wishing to find a shorter route down to the Shire, had sent two men to explore the

country between Magomero and the junction of the Ruo; and in December Messrs. Proctor and Scudamore,

with a number of Manganja carriers, left Magomero for the same purpose. They were to go close to Mount

Choro, and then skirt the Elephant Marsh, with Mount Clarendon on their left. Their guides seem to have led

them away to the east, instead of south; to the upper waters of the Ruo in the Shirwa valley, instead of to its

mouth. Entering an Anguru slavetrading village, they soon began to suspect that the people meant mischief,

and just before sunset a woman told some of their men that if they slept there they would all be killed. On

their preparing to leave, the Anguru followed them and shot their arrows at the retreating party. Two of the

carriers were captured, and all the goods were taken by these robbers. An arrow head struck deep into the

stock of Proctor's gun; and the two missionaries, barely escaping with their lives, swam a deep river at night,

The wives of the captive carriers came to the Bishop day after day weeping and imploring him to rescue their

husbands from slavery. The men had been caught while in his service, no one else could be entreated; there

was no public law nor any power superior to his own, to which an appeal could be made; for in him Church

and State were, in the disorganized state of the country, virtually united. It seemed to him to be clearly his

duty to try and rescue these kidnapped members of the Mission family. He accordingly invited the veteran

Makololo to go with him on this somewhat hazardous errand. Nothing could have been proposed to them

which they would have liked better, and they went with alacrity to eat the sheep of the Anguru, only

regretting that the enemy did not keep cattle as well. Had the matter been left entirely in their hands, they

would have made a clean sweep of that part of the country; but the Bishop restrained them, and went in an

open manner, thus commending the measure to all the natives, as one of justice. This deliberation, however,

The missionaries were successful; the offending village was burned, and a few sheep and goats were secured

which could not be considered other than a very mild punishment for the offence committed; the headman,

Muanasomba, afraid to retain the prisoners any longer, forthwith liberated them, and they returned to their

homes. This incident took place at the time we were at the Ruo and during the rains, and proved very trying

to the health of the missionaries; they were frequently wetted, and had hardly any food but roasted maize. Mr.

Scudamore was never well afterwards. Directly on their return to Magomero, the Bishop and Mr. Burrup,

both suffering from diarrhoea in consequence of wet, hunger, and exposure, started for Chibisa's to go down

to the Ruo by the Shire. So fully did the Bishop expect a renewal of the soaking wet from which he had just

returned, that on leaving Magomero he walked through the stream. The rivulets were so swollen that it took

five days to do a journey that would otherwise have occupied only two days and a half.

None of the Manganja being willing to take them down the river during the flood, three Makololo canoemen

agreed to go with them. After paddling till near sunset, they decided to stop and sleep on shore; but the

mosquitoes were so numerous that they insisted on going on again; the Bishop, being a week behind the time

he had engaged to be at the Ruo, reluctantly consented, and in the darkness the canoe was upset in one of the

strong eddies or whirlpools, which suddenly boil up in flood time near the outgoing branches of the river;

clothing, medicines, tea, coffee, and sugar were all lost. Wet and weary, and tormented by mosquitoes, they

lay in the canoe till morning dawned, and then proceeded to Malo, an island at the mouth of the Ruo, where

Had they been in their usual health, they would doubtless have pushed on to Shupanga, or to the ship; but

fever rapidly prostrates the energies, and induces a drowsy stupor, from which, if not roused by medicine, the

patient gradually sinks into the sleep of death. Still mindful, however, of his office, the Bishop consoled

himself by thinking that he might gain the friendship of the chief, which would be of essential service to him

in his future labours. That heartless man, however, probably suspicious of all foreigners from the knowledge

he had acquired of white slavetraders, wanted to turn the dying Bishop out of the hut, as he required it for

his corn, but yielded to the expostulations of the Makololo. Day after day for three weeks did these faithful

fellows remain beside his mat on the floor; till, without medicine or even proper food, he died. They dug his

grave on the edge of the deep dark forest where the natives buried their dead. Mr. Burrup, himself far gone

with dysentery, staggered from the hut, and, as in the dusk of evening they committed the Bishop's body to

the grave, repeated from memory portions of our beautiful service for the Burial of the Dead"earth to

earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead through our Lord

Jesus Christ." And in this sad way ended the earthly career of one, of whom it can safely be said that for

unselfish goodness of heart, and earnest devotion to the noble work he had undertaken, none of the

commendations of his friends can exceed the reality. The grave in which his body rests is about a hundred

yards from the confluence of the Ruo, on the left bank of the Shire, and opposite the island of Malo. The

Makololo then took Mr. Burrup up in the canoe as far as they could, and, making a litter of branches, carried

him themselves, or got others to carry him, all the way back to his countrymen at Magomero. They hurried

him on lest he should die in their hands, and blame be attached to them. Soon after his return he expired, from

Captain Wilson arrived at Shupanga on the 11th of March, having been three weeks on the Shire. On the 15th

the "Pioneer" steamed down to the Kongone. The "Gorgon" had been driven out to sea in a gale, and had

gone to Johanna for provisions, and it was the 2nd of April before she returned. It was fortunate for us that

she had obtained a supply, as our provisions were exhausted, and we had to buy some from the master of the

brig. The "Gorgon" left for the Cape on the 4th, taking all, except one, of the Mission party who had come in

January. We take this opportunity of expressing our heartfelt gratitude to the gallant Captain I. C. Wilson and

his officers for innumerable acts of kindness and hearty cooperation. Our warmest thanks are also due to

Captain R. B. Oldfield and the other officers from the Admiral downwards, and we beg to assure them that

nothing could be more encouraging to us in our difficulties and trials, than the knowledge that we possessed

The Rev. James Stewart, of the Free Church of Scotland, arrived in the "Gorgon." He had wisely come out to

inspect the country, before deciding on the formation of a Mission in the interior. To this object he devoted

many months of earnest labour. This Mission was intended to embrace both the industrial and the religious

element; and as the route by the Zambesi and Shire forms the only one at present known, with but a couple of

days' land journey to the highlands, which stretch to an unknown distance into the continent, and as no

jealousy was likely to be excited in the mind of a man of Bishop Mackenzie's enlarged viewsthere being

moreover room for hundreds of Missionswe gladly extended the little aid in our power to an envoy from

the energetic body above mentioned, but recommended him to examine the field with his own eyes.

During our subsequent detention at Shupanga, he proceeded as far up the Shire as the Upper Cataracts, and

saw the mere remnants of that dense population, which we at first had found living in peace and plenty, but

which was now scattered and destroyed by famine and slavehunting. The land, which both before and after

we found so fair and fruitful, was burned up by a severe drought; in fact, it was at its very worst. With most

praiseworthy energy, and in spite of occasional attacks of fever, he then ascended the Zambesi as far as

Kebrabasa; and, what may be of interest to some, compared it, in parts, to the Danube. His estimate of the

highlands would naturally be lower than ours. The main drawbacks in his opinion, however, were the

slavetrade, and the power allowed the effete Portuguese of shutting up the country from all except a few

convicts of their own nation. The time of his coming was inopportune; the disasters which, from

inexperience, had befallen the Mission of the Universities, had a depressing effect on the minds of many at

home, and rendered a new attempt unadvisable; though, had the Scotch perseverance and energy been

introduced, it is highly probable that they would have reacted, most beneficially, on the zeal of our English

brethren, and desertion would never have been heard of. After examining the country, Mr. Stewart descended

the Zambesi in the beginning of the following year, and proceeded homewards with his report, by

On the 7th of April we had only one man fit for duty; all the rest were down with fever, or with the vile spirit

secretly sold to them by the Portuguese officer of customs, in spite of our earnest request to him to refrain

We started on the 11th for Shupanga with another load of the "Lady Nyassa." As we steamed up the delta, we

observed many of the natives wearing strips of palmleaf, the signs of sickness and mourning; for they too

suffer from fever. This is the unhealthy season; the rains are over, and the hot sun draws up malaria from the

decayed vegetation; disease seemed peculiarly severe this year. On our way up we met Mr. Waller, who had

come from Magomero for provisions; the missionaries were suffering severely from want of food; the

liberated people were starving, and dying of diarrhoea, and loathsome sores. The Ajawa, stimulated in their

slave raids by supplies of ammunition and cloth from the Portuguese, had destroyed the large crops of the

past year; a drought had followed, and little or no food could be bought. With his usual energy, Mr. Waller

hired canoes, loaded them with stores, and took them up the long weary way to Chibisa's. Before he arrived

he was informed that the Mission of the Universities, now deprived of its brave leader, had retired from the

highlands down to the Low Shire Valley. This appeared to us, who knew the danger of leading a sedentary

life, the greatest mistake they could have made, and was the result of no other counsel or responsibility than

their own. Waller would have reascended at once to the higher altitude, but various objections stood in the

way. The loss of poor Scudamore and Dickinson, in this lowlying situation, but added to the regret that the

When the news of the Bishop's unfortunate collisions with the natives, and of his untimely end, reached

England, much blame was imputed to him. The policy, which with the formal sanction of all his companions

he had adopted, being directly contrary to the advice which Dr. Livingstone tendered, and to the assurances

of the peaceable nature of the Mission which the Doctor had given to the natives, a friendly disapproval of a

bishop's engaging in war was ventured on, when we met him at Chibisa's in November. But when we found

his conduct regarded with so much bitterness in England, whether from a disposition to "stand by the down

man," or from having an intimate knowledge of the peculiar circumstances of the country in which he was

placed, or from the thorough confidence which intimacy caused us to repose in his genuine piety, and devout

service of God, we came to think much more leniently of his proceedings, than his assailants did. He never

seemed to doubt but that he had done his duty; and throughout he had always been supported by his

The question whether a Bishop, in the event of his flock being torn from his bosom, may make war to rescue

them, requires serious consideration. It seems to narrow itself into whether a Christian man may lawfully use

the civil power or the sword at all in defensive war, as police or otherwise. We would do almost anything to

avoid a collision with degraded natives; but in case of an invasionour blood boils at the very thought of our

wives, daughters, or sisters being touchedwe, as men with human feelings, would unhesitatingly fight to

The good Bishop was as intensely averse to using arms, before he met the slavehunters, as any man in

England. In the course he pursued he may have made a mistake, but it is a mistake which very few

Englishmen on meeting bands of helpless captives, or members of his family in bonds, would have failed to

During unhealthy April, the fever was more severe in Shupanga and Mazaro than usual. We had several cases

on boardthey were quickly cured, but, from our being in the delta, as quickly returned. About the middle of

the month Mrs. Livingstone was prostrated by this disease; and it was accompanied by obstinate vomiting.

Nothing is yet known that can allay this distressing symptom, which of course renders medicine of no avail,

as it is instantly rejected. She received whatever medical aid could be rendered from Dr. Kirk, but became

unconscious, and her eyes were closed in the sleep of death as the sunset on the evening of the Christian

Sabbath, the 27th April, 1862. A coffin was made during the night, a grave was dug next day under the

branches of the great baobabtree, and with sympathizing hearts the little band of his countrymen assisted the

bereaved husband in burying his dead. At his request, the Rev. James Stewart read the burialservice; and the

seamen kindly volunteered to mount guard for some nights at the spot where her body rests in hope. Those

who are not aware how this brave, good, English wife made a delightful home at Kolobeng, a thousand miles

inland from the Cape, and as the daughter of Moffat and a Christian lady exercised most beneficial influence

over the rude tribes of the interior, may wonder that she should have braved the dangers and toils of this

down trodden land. She knew them all, and, in the disinterested and dutiful attempt to renew her labours,

On the 5th of May Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone started in the boat for Tette, in order to see the property

of the Expedition brought down in canoes. They took four Mazaro canoemen to manage the boat, and a

white sailor to cook for them; but, unfortunately, he caught fever the very day after leaving the ship, and was

ill most of the trip; so they had to cook for themselves, and to take care of him besides.

We now proceeded with preparations for the launch of the "Lady Nyassa." Ground was levelled on the bank

at Shupanga, for the purpose of arranging the compartments in order: she was placed on palmtrees which

were brought from a place lower down the river for ways, and the engineer and his assistants were soon

busily engaged; about a fortnight after they were all brought from Kongone, the sections were screwed

together. The blacks are more addicted to stealing where slavery exists than elsewhere. We were annoyed by

thieves who carried off the iron screwbolts, but were gratified to find that strychnine saved us from the

manthief as well as the hyenathief. A hyena was killed by it, and after the natives saw the dead animal and

knew how we had destroyed it, they concluded that it was not safe to steal from men who possessed a

medicine so powerful. The halfcaste, who kept Shupangahouse, said he wished to have some to give to the

Zulus, of whom he was mortally afraid, and to whom he had to pay an unwilling tribute.

The "Pioneer" made several trips to the Kongone, and returned with the last load on the 12th of June. On the

23rd the "Lady Nyassa" was safely launched, the work of putting her together having been interrupted by

fever and dysentery, and many other causes which it would only weary the reader to narrate in detail. Natives

from all parts of the country came to see the launch, most of them quite certain that, being made of iron, she

must go to the bottom as soon as she entered the water. Earnest discussions had taken place among them with

regard to the propriety of using iron for shipbuilding. The majority affirmed that it would never answer.

They said, "If we put a hoe into the water, or the smallest bit of iron, it sinks immediately. How then can such

a mass of iron float? it must go to the bottom." The minority answered that this might be true with them, but

white men had medicine for everything. "They could even make a woman, all except the speaking; look at

that one on the figurehead of the vessel." The unbelievers were astonished, and could hardly believe their

eyes, when they saw the ship float lightly and gracefully on the river, instead of going to the bottom, as they

so confidently predicted. "Truly," they said, "these men have powerful medicine."

Birds are numerous on the Shupanga estate. Some kinds remain all the year round, while many others are

there only for a few months. Flocks of green pigeons come in April to feed on the young fruit of the wild

figtrees, which is also eaten by a large species of bat in the evenings. The pretty little black weaver, with

yellow shoulders, appears to enjoy life intensely after assuming his wooing dress. A hearty breakfast is eaten

in the mornings and then come the hours for making merry. A select party of three or four perch on the

bushes which skirt a small grassy plain, and cheer themselves with the music of their own quiet and

selfcomplacent song. A playful performance on the wind succeeds. Expanding his soft velvetlike plumage,

one glides with quivering pinions to the centre of the open space, singing as he flies, then turns with a rapid

whirring sound from his wingssomewhat like a child's rattleand returns to his place again. One by one

the others perform the same feat, and continue the sport for hours, striving which can produce the loudest

brattle while turning. These games are only played during the season of courting and of the gay feathers; the

merriment seems never to be thought of while the bird wears his winter suit of sober brown.

We received two mules from the Cape to aid us in transporting the pieces of the "Lady Nyassa" past the

cataracts and landed them at Shupanga, but they soon perished. A Portuguese gentleman kindly informed us,

AFTER both the mules were dead, that he knew they would die; for the land there had been often tried, and

nothing would live on itnot even a pig. He said he had not told us so before, because he did not like to

By the time everything had been placed on board the "Lady Nyassa," the waters of the Zambesi and the Shire

had fallen so low that it was useless to attempt taking her up to the cataracts before the rains in December.

Draught oxen and provisions also were required, and could not be obtained nearer than the Island of Johanna.

The Portuguese, without refusing positively to let trade enter the Zambesi, threw impediments in the way;

they only wanted a small duty! They were about to establish a river police, and rearrange the Crown lands,

which have long since become Zulu lands; meanwhile they were making the Zambesi, by slaving, of no value

The Rovuma, which was reported to come from Lake Nyassa, being out of their claims and a free river, we

determined to explore it in our boats immediately on our return from Johanna, for which place, after some

delay at the Kongone, in repairing engines, paddlewheel, and rudder, we sailed on the 6th of August. A

store of naval provisions had been formed on a hulk in Pomone Bay of that island for the supply of the

cruisers, and was in charge of Mr. Sunley, the Consul, from whom we always received the kindest attentions

and assistance. He now obliged us by parting with six oxen, trained for his own use in sugarmaking. Though

sadly hampered in his undertaking by being obliged to employ slave labour, he has by indomitable energy

overcome obstacles under which most persons would have sunk. He has done all that under the circumstances

could be done to infuse a desire for freedom, by paying regular wages; and has established a large factory,

and brought 300 acres of rich soil under cultivation with sugarcane. We trust he will realize the fortune

which he so well deserves to earn. Had Mr. Sunley performed the same experiment on the mainland, where

people would have flocked to him for the wages he now gives, he would certainly have inaugurated a new era

on the East Coast of Africa. On a small island where the slaveholders have complete power over the slaves,

and where there is no free soil such as is everywhere met with in Africa, the experiment ought not to be

repeated. Were Mr. Sunley commencing again, it should neither be in Zanzibar nor Johanna, but on African

soil, where, if even a slave is illtreated, he can easily by flight become free. On an island under native rule a

joint manufacture by Arabs and Englishmen might only mean that the latter were to escape the odium of

On leaving Johanna and our oxen for a time, H.M.S. "Orestes" towed us thence to the mouth of the Rovuma

at the beginning of September. Captain Gardner, her commander, and several of his officers, accompanied us

up the river for two days in the gig and cutter. The water was unusually low, and it was rather dull work for a

few hours in the morning; but the scene became livelier and more animated when the breeze began to blow.

Our four boats they swept on under full sail, the men on the look out in the gig and cutter calling, "Port, sir!"

"Starboard, sir!" "As you go, sir!" while the black men in the bows of the others shouted the practical

equivalents, "Pagombe! Pagombe!" "Enda quete!" "Berane! Berane!" Presently the leading boat touches on

a sandbank; down comes the fluttering sail; the men jump out to shove her off, and the other boats, shunning

the obstruction, shoot on ahead to be brought up each in its turn by mistaking a sandbank for the channel,

A drowsy herd of hippopotami were suddenly startled by a score of rifleshots, and stared in amazement at

the strange objects which had invaded their peaceful domains, until a few more bullets compelled them to

seek refuge at the bottom of the deep pool, near which they had been quietly reposing. On our return, one of

the herd retaliated. He followed the boat, came up under it, and twice tried to tear the bottom out of it; but

fortunately it was too flat for his jaws to get a good grip, so he merely damaged one of the planks with his

tusks, though he lifted the boat right up, with ten men and a ton of ebony in it.

We slept, one of the two nights Captain Gardner was with us, opposite the lakelet Chidia, which is connected

with the river in flood time, and is nearly surrounded by hills some 500 or 600 feet high, dotted over with

trees. A few small groups of huts stood on the hillsides, with gardens off which the usual native produce had

been reaped. The people did not seem much alarmed by the presence of the large party which had drawn up

on the sandbanks below their dwellings. There is abundance of large ebony in the neighbourhood. The pretty

little antelope (Cephalophus caeruleus), about the size of a hare, seemed to abound, as many of their skins

were offered for sale. Neat figured dateleaf mats of various colours are woven here, the different dyes being

obtained from the barks of trees. Cattle could not live on the banks of the Rovuma on account of the tsetse,

which are found from near the mouth, up as far as we could take the boats. The navigation did not improve as

we ascended; snags, brought down by the floods, were common, and left in the channel on the sudden

subsidence of the water. In many places, where the river divided into two or three channels, there was not

water enough in any of them for a boat drawing three feet, so we had to drag ours over the shoals; but we saw

the river at its very lowest, and it may be years before it is so dried up again.

The valley of the Rovuma, bounded on each side by a range of highlands, is from two to four miles in width,

and comes in a pretty straight course from the W.S.W.; but the channel of the river is winding, and now at its

lowest zigzagged so perversely, that frequently the boats had to pass over three miles to make one in a

straight line. With a full stream it must of course be much easier work. Few natives were seen during the first

week. Their villages are concealed in the thick jungle on the hillsides, for protection from marauding

slaveparties. Not much of interest was observed on this part of the silent and shallow river. Though feeling

convinced that it was unfit for navigation, except for eight months of the year, we pushed on, resolved to see

if, further inland, the accounts we had received from different naval officers of its great capabilities would

prove correct; or if, by communication with Lake Nyassa, even the upper part could be turned to account. Our

exploration showed us that the greatest precaution is required in those who visit new countries.

The reports we received from gentlemen, who had entered the river and were well qualified to judge, were

that the Rovuma was infinitely superior to the Zambesi, in the absence of any bar at its mouth, in its greater

volume of water, and in the beauty of the adjacent lands. We probably came at a different season from that in

which they visited it, and our account ought to be taken with theirs to arrive at the truth. It might be available

as a highway for commerce during three quarters of each year; but casual visitors, like ourselves and others,

are all ill able to decide. The absence of animal life was remarkable. Occasionally we saw pairs of the stately

jabirus, or adjutantlooking marabouts, wading among the shoals, and spurwinged geese, and other

At the end of the first week, an old man called at our camp, and said he would send a present from his village,

which was up among the hills. He appeared next morning with a number of his people, bringing meal,

cassavaroot, and yams. The language differs considerably from that on the Zambesi, but it is of the same

family. The people are Makonde, and are on friendly terms with the Mabiha, and the Makoa, who live south

of the Rovuma. When taking a walk up the slopes of the north bank, we found a great variety of trees we had

seen nowhere else. Those usually met with far inland seem here to approach the coast. African ebony,

generally named mpingu, is abundant within eight miles of the sea; it attains a larger size, and has more of the

interior black wood than usual. A good timber tree called mosoko is also found; and we saw halfcaste Arabs

near the coast cutting up a large log of it into planks. Before reaching the top of the rise we were in a forest of

bamboos. On the plateau above, large patches were cleared and cultivated. A man invited us to take a cup of

beer; on our complying with his request, the fear previously shown by the bystanders vanished. Our Mazaro

men could hardly understand what they said. Some of them waded in the river and caught a curious fish in

holes in the claybank. Its ventral fin is peculiar, being unusually large, and of a circular shape, like boys'

playthings called "suckers." We were told that this fish is found also in the Zambesi, and is called Chirire.

Though all its fins are large, it is asserted that it rarely ventures out into the stream, but remains near its hole,

The Zambesi men thoroughly understood the characteristic marks of deep or shallow water, and showed great

skill in finding out the proper channel. The Molimo is the steersman at the helm, the Mokadamo is the head

canoeman, and he stands erect on the bows with a long pole in his hands, and directs the steersman where to

go, aiding the rudder, if necessary, with his pole. The others preferred to stand and punt our boat, rather than

row with our long oars, being able to shove her ahead faster than they could pull her. They are accustomed to

short paddles. Our Mokadamo was affected with moon blindness, and could not see at all at night. His

comrades then led him about, and handed him his food. They thought that it was only because his eyes rested

all night, that he could see the channel so well by day. At difficult places the Mokadamo sometimes,

however, made mistakes, and ran us aground; and the others, evidently imbued with the spirit of resistance to

constituted authority, and led by Joao an aspirant for the office, jeered him for his stupidity. "Was he asleep?

Why did he allow the boat to come there? Could he not see the channel was somewhere else?" At last the

Mokadamo threw down the pole in disgust, and told Joao he might be a Mokadamo himself. The office was

accepted with alacrity; but in a few minutes he too ran us into a worse difficulty than his predecessor ever

On the 16th September, we arrived at the inhabited island of Kichokomane. The usual way of approaching an

unknown people is to call out in a cheerful tone "Malonda!" Things for sale, or do you want to sell anything?

If we can obtain a man from the last village, he is employed, though only useful in explaining to the next that

we come in a friendly way. The people here were shy of us at first, and could not be induced to sell any food;

until a woman, more adventurous than the rest, sold us a fowl. This opened the market, and crowds came with

fowls and meal, far beyond our wants. The women are as ugly as those on Lake Nyassa, for who can be

handsome wearing the pelele, or upperlip ring, of large dimensions? We were once surprised to see young

men wearing the pelele, and were told that in the tribe of the Mabiha, on the south bank, men as well as

Along the left bank, above Kichokomane, is an exceedingly fertile plain, nearly two miles broad, and studded

with a number of deserted villages. The inhabitants were living in temporary huts on low naked sandbanks;

and we found this to be the case as far as we went. They leave most of their property and food behind,

because they are not afraid of these being stolen, but only fear being stolen themselves. The great slaveroute

from Nyassa to Kilwa passes to N.E. from S.W., just beyond them; and it is dangerous to remain in their

villages at this time of year, when the kidnappers are abroad. In one of the temporary villages, we saw, in

passing, two human heads lying on the ground. We slept a couple of miles above this village.

Before sunrise next morning, a large party armed with bows and arrows and muskets came to the camp, two

or three of them having a fowl each, which we refused to purchase, having bought enough the day before.

They followed us all the morning, and after breakfast those on the left bank swam across and joined the main

party on the other side. It was evidently their intention to attack us at a chosen spot, where we had to pass

close to a high bank, but their plan was frustrated by a stiff breeze sweeping the boat past, before the majority

could get to the place. They disappeared then, but came out again ahead of us, on a high wooded bank,

walking rapidly to the bend, near which we were obliged to sail. An arrow was shot at the foremost boat; and

seeing the force at the bend, we pushed out from the side, as far as the shoal water would permit, and tried to

bring them to a parley, by declaring that we had not come to fight, but to see the river. "Why did you fire a

gun, a little while ago?" they asked. "We shot a large puffadder, to prevent it from killing men; you may see

it lying dead on the beach." With great courage, our Mokadamo waded to within thirty yards of the bank, and

spoke with much earnestness, assuring them that we were a peaceable party, and had not come for war, but to

see the river. We were friends, and our countrymen bought cotton and ivory, and wished to come and trade

with them. All we wanted was to go up quietly to look at the river, and then return to the sea. While he was

talking with those on the shore, the old rogue, who appeared to be the ringleader, stole up the bank, and with

a dozen others, waded across to the island, near which the boats lay, and came down behind us. Wild with

excitement, they rushed into the water, and danced in our rear, with drawn bows, taking aim, and making

various savage gesticulations. Their leader urged them to get behind some snags, and then shoot at us. The

party on the bank in front had many musketsand those of them, who had bows, held them with arrows

ready set in the bowstrings. They had a mass of thick bush and trees behind them, into which they could in a

moment dart, after discharging their muskets and arrows, and be completely hidden from our sight; a

circumstance that always gives people who use bows and arrows the greatest confidence. Notwithstanding

these demonstrations, we were exceedingly loath to come to blows. We spent a full halfhour exposed at any

moment to be struck by a bullet or poisoned arrow. We explained that we were better armed than they were,

and had plenty of ammunition, the suspected want of which often inspires them with courage, but that we did

not wish to shed the blood of the children of the same Great Father with ourselves; that if we must fight, the

This being a common mode of expostulation among themselves, we so far succeeded, that with great

persuasion the leader and others laid down their arms, and waded over from the bank to the boats to talk the

matter over. "This was their river; they did not allow white men to use it. We must pay toll for leave to pass."

It was somewhat humiliating to do so, but it was pay or fight; and, rather than fight, we submitted to the

humiliation of paying for their friendship, and gave them thirty yards of cloth. They pledged themselves to be

our friends ever afterwards, and said they would have food cooked for us on our return. We then hoisted sail,

and proceeded, glad that the affair had been amicably settled. Those on shore walked up to the bend above to

look at the boat, as we supposed; but the moment she was abreast of them, they gave us a volley of

musketballs and poisoned arrows, without a word of warning. Fortunately we were so near, that all the

arrows passed clear over us, but four musketballs went through the sail just above our heads. All our

assailants bolted into the bushes and long grass the instant after firing, save two, one of whom was about to

discharge a musket and the other an arrow, when arrested by the fire of the second boat. Not one of them

showed their faces again, till we were a thousand yards away. A few shots were then fired over their heads, to

give them an idea of the range of our rifles, and they all fled into the woods. Those on the sandbank rushed

off too, with the utmost speed; but as they had not shot at us, we did not molest them, and they went off

safely with their cloth. They probably expected to kill one of our number, and in the confusion rob the boats.

It is only where the people are slavers that the natives of this part of Africa are bloodthirsty.

These people have a bad name in the country in front, even among their own tribe. A slavetrading Arab we

met above, thinking we were then on our way down the river, advised us not to land at the villages, but to

stay in the boats, as the inhabitants were treacherous, and attacked at once, without any warning or

provocation. Our experience of their conduct fully confirmed the truth of what he said. There was no trade on

the river where they lived, but beyond that part there was a brisk canoetrade in rice and salt; those further in

the interior cultivating rice, and sending it down the river to be exchanged for salt, which is extracted from

the earth in certain places on the banks. Our assailants hardly anticipated resistance, and told a neighbouring

chief that, if they had known who we were, they would not have attacked English, who can "bite hard." They

offered no molestations on our way down, though we were an hour in passing their village. Our canoemen

plucked up courage on finding that we had come off unhurt. One of them, named Chiku, acknowledging that

he had been terribly frightened, said. "His fear was not the kind which makes a man jump overboard and run

away; but that which brings the heart up to the mouth, and renders the man powerless, and no more able to

In the country of Chonga Michi, about 80 or 90 miles up the river, we found decent people, though of the

same tribe, who treated strangers with civility. A body of Makoa had come from their own country in the

south, and settled here. The Makoa are known by a cicatrice in the forehead shaped like the new moon with

the horns turned downwards. The tribe possesses all the country west of Mosambique; and they will not allow

any of the Portuguese to pass into their country more than two hours' distance from the fort. A hill some ten

or twelve miles distant, called Pau, has been visited during the present generation only by one Portuguese and

one English officer, and this visit was accomplished only by the influence of the private friendship of a chief

for this Portuguese gentleman. Our allies have occupied the Fort of Mosambique for three hundred years, but

in this, as in all other cases, have no power further than they can see from a guncarriage.

The Makoa chief, Matingula, was hospitable and communicative, telling us all he knew of the river and

country beyond. He had been once to Iboe and once at Mosambique with slaves. Our men understood his

language easily. A useless musket he had bought at one of the above places was offered us for a little cloth.

Having received a present of food from him, a railway rug was handed to him: he looked at it had never

seen cloth like that beforedid not approve of it, and would rather have cotton cloth. "But this will keep you

warm at night.""Oh, I do not wish to be kept warm at night."We gave him a bit of cotton cloth, not

onethird the value of the rug, but it was more highly prized. His people refused to sell their fowls for our

splendid prints and drab cloths. They had probably been taken in with gaudypatterned sham prints before.

They preferred a very cheap, plain, blue stuff of which they had experience. A great quantity of excellent

honey is collected all along the river, by bark hives being placed for the bees on the high trees on both banks.

Large pots of it, very good and clear, were offered in exchange for a very little cloth. No wax was brought for

sale; there being no market for this commodity, it is probably thrown away as useless.

At Michi we lose the tableland which, up to this point, bounds the view on both sides of the river, as it were,

with ranges of flat topped hills, 600 or 800 feet high; and to this plateau a level fertile plain succeeds, on

which stand detached granite hills. That portion of the tableland on the right bank seems to bend away to the

south, still preserving the appearance of a hill range. The height opposite extends a few miles further west,

and then branches off in a northerly direction. A few small pieces of coal were picked up on the sandbanks,

showing that this useful mineral exists on the Rovuma, or on some of its tributaries: the natives know that it

will burn. At the lakelet Chidia, we noticed the same sandstone rock, with fossil wood on it, which we have

on the Zambesi, and knew to be a sure evidence of coal beneath. We mentioned this at the time to Captain

Gardner, and our finding coal now seemed a verification of what we then said; the coalfield probably

extends from the Zambesi to the Rovuma, if not beyond it. Some of the rocks lower down have the permanent

A few miles west of the Makoa of Matingula, we came again among the Makonde, but now of good repute.

War and slavery have driven them to seek refuge on the sandbanks. A venerablelooking old man hailed us

as we passed, and asked us if we were going by without speaking. We landed, and he laid down his gun and

came to us; he was accompanied by his brother, who shook hands with every one in the boat, as he had seen

people do at Kilwa. "Then you have seen white men before?" we said. "Yes," replied the polite African, "but

never people of your quality." These men were very black, and wore but little clothing. A young woman,

dressed in the highest style of Makonde fashion, punting as dexterously as a man could, brought a canoe full

of girls to see us. She wore an ornamental headdress of red beads tied to her hair on one side of her head, a

necklace of fine beads of various colours, two bright figured brass bracelets on her left arm, and scarcely a

As we pushed on westwards, we found that the river makes a little southing, and some reaches were deeper

than any near the sea; but when we had ascended about 140 miles by the river's course from the sea, soft tufa

rocks began to appear; ten miles beyond, the river became more narrow and rocky, and when, according to

our measurement, we had ascended 156 miles, our further progress was arrested. We were rather less than

two degrees in a straight line from the Coast. The incidents worth noticing were but few: seven canoes with

loads of salt and rice kept company with us for some days, and the further we went inland, the more civil the

When we came to a stand, just below the island of Nyamatolo, Long. 38 degrees 36 minutes E., and Lat. 11

degrees 53 minutes, the river was narrow, and full of rocks. Near the island there is a rocky rapid with narrow

passages fit only for native canoes; the fall is small, and the banks quite low; but these rocks were an

effectual barrier to all further progress in boats. Previous reports represented the navigable part of this river as

extending to the distance of a month's sail from its mouth; we found that, at the ordinary heights of the water,

a boat might reach the obstructions which seem peculiar to all African rivers in six or eight days. The

Rovuma is remarkable for the high lands that flank it for some eighty miles from the ocean. The cataracts of

other rivers occur in mountains, those of the Rovuma are found in a level part, with hills only in the distance.

Far away in the west and north we could see high blue heights, probably of igneous origin from their forms,

The distance from Ngomano, a spot thirty miles further up, to the Arab crossingplaces of Lake Nyassa

Tsenga or Kotakota was said to be twelve days. The way we had discovered to Lake Nyassa by Murchison's

Cataracts had so much less land carriage, that we considered it best to take our steamer thither, by the route in

which we were well known, instead of working where we were strangers; and accordingly we made up our

The natives reported a worse place above our turningpointthe passage being still narrower than this. An

Arab, they said, once built a boat above the rapids, and sent it down full of slaves; but it was broken to pieces

in these upper narrows. Many still maintained that the Rovuma came from Nyassa, and that it is very narrow

as it issues out of the lake. One man declared that he had seen it with his own eyes as it left the lake, and

More satisfactory information, as it appeared to us, was obtained from others. Two days, or thirty miles,

beyond where we turned back, the Rovuma is joined by the Liende, which, coming from the south west,

rises in the mountains on the east side of Nyassa. The great slave route to Kilwa runs up the banks of this

river, which is only ankledeep at the dry season of the year. The Rovuma itself comes from the W.N.W.,

and after the traveller passes the confluence of the Liende at Ngomano or "meetingplace," the chief of

Crocodiles in the Rovuma have a sorry time of it. Never before were reptiles so persecuted and snubbed.

They are hunted with spears, and spring traps are set for them. If one of them enters an inviting pool after

fish, he soon finds a fence thrown round it, and a spring trap set in the only path out of the enclosure. Their

flesh is eaten, and relished. The banks, on which the female lays her eggs by night, are carefully searched by

day, and all the eggs dug out and devoured. The fishhawk makes havoc among the few young ones that

escape their other enemies. Our men were constantly on the lookout for crocodiles' nests. One was found

containing thirtyfive newly laid eggs, and they declared that the crocodile would lay as many more the

second night in another place. The eggs were a foot deep in the sand on the top of a bank ten feet high. The

animal digs a hole with its foot, covers the eggs, and leaves them till the river rises over the nest in about

three months afterwards, when she comes back, and assists the young ones out. We once saw opposite Tette

young crocodiles in December, swimming beside an island in company with an old one. The yolk of the egg

is nearly as white as the real white. In taste they resemble hen's eggs with perhaps a smack of custard, and

would be as highly relished by whites as by blacks, were it not for their unsavoury origin in meneaters.

Hunting the Senze (Aulacodus Swindernianus), an animal the size of a large cat, but in shape more like a pig,

was the chief business of men and boys as we passed the reedy banks and low islands. They set fire to a mass

of reeds, and, armed with sticks, spears, bows and arrows, stand in groups guarding the outlets through which

the seared Senze may run from the approaching flames. Dark dense volumes of impenetrable smoke now roll

over on the lee side of the islet, and shroud the hunters. At times vast sheets of lurid flames bursting forth,

roaring, crackling and exploding, leap wildly far above the tall reeds. Out rush the terrified animals, and amid

the smoke are seen the excited hunters dancing about with frantic gesticulations, and hurling stick, spear, and

arrow at their burned out victims. Kites hover over the smoke, ready to pounce on the mantis and locusts as

they spring from the fire. Small crows and hundreds of swallows are on eager wing, darting into the smoke

and out again, seizing fugitive flies. Scores of insects, in their haste to escape from the fire, jump into the

We returned to the "Pioneer" on the 9th of October, having been away one month. The ship's company had

used distilled water, a condenser having been sent out from England; and there had not been a single case of

sickness on board since we left, though there were so many cases of fever the few days she lay in the same

spot last year. Our boat party drank the water of the river, and the three white sailors, who had never been in

Return to the ZambesiBishop Mackenzie's graveFrightful scenes with crocodilesDeath of Mr.

We put to sea on the 18th of October, and, again touching at Johanna, obtained a crew of Johanna men and

some oxen, and sailed for the Zambesi; but our fuel failing before we reached it, and the wind being contrary,

Quillimane must have been built solely for the sake of carrying on the slavetrade, for no man in his senses

would ever have dreamed of placing a village on such a low, muddy, feverhaunted, and mosquito

swarming site, had it not been for the facilities it afforded for slaving. The bar may at springs and floods be

easily crossed by sailingvessels, but, being far from the land, it is always dangerous for boats. Slaves, under

the name of "free emigrants," have gone by thousands from Quillimane, during the last six years, to the ports

a little to the south, particularly to Massangano. Some excellent brickhouses still stand in the place, and the

owners are generous and hospitable: among them our good friend, Colonel Nunez. His disinterested kindness

to us and to all our countrymen can never be forgotten. He is a noble example of what energy and uprightness

may accomplish even here. He came out as a cabinboy, and, without a single friend to help him, he has

persevered in an honourable course until he is the richest man on the East Coast. When Dr. Livingstone came

down the Zambesi in 1856, Colonel Nunez was the chief of the only four honourable, trustworthy men in the

country. But while he has risen a whole herd has sunk, making loud lamentations, through puffs of

All agricultural enterprise is virtually discouraged by Quillimane Government. A man must purchase a permit

from the Governor, when he wishes to visit his country farm; and this tax, in a country where labour is

unpopular, causes the farms to be almost entirely left in the hands of a head slave, who makes returns to his

master as interest or honesty prompts him. A passport must also be bought whenever a man wishes to go up

the river to Mazaro, Senna, or Tette, or even to reside for a month at Quillimane. With a soil and a climate

well suited for the growth of the cane, abundance of slave labour, and water communication to any market in

the world, they have never made their own sugar. All they use is imported from Bombay. "The people of

Quillimane have no enterprise," said a young European Portuguese, "they do nothing, and are always wasting

We entered the Zambesi about the end of November and found it unusually low, so we did not get up to

Shupanga till the 19th of December. The friends of our Mazaro men, who had now become good sailors and

very attentive servants, turned out and gave them a hearty welcome back from the perils of the sea: they had

begun to fear that they would never return. We hired them at a sixteenyard piece of cloth a monthabout

ten shillings' worth, the Portuguese marketprice of the cloth being then sevenpence halfpenny a yard, and

paid them five pieces each, for fourandahalf months' work. A merchant at the same time paid other

Mazaro men three pieces for seven months, and they were with him in the interior. If the merchants do not

prosper, it is not because labour is dear, but because it is scarce, and because they are so eager on every

occasion to sell the workmen out of the country. Our men had also received quantities of good clothes from

the sailors of the "Pioneer" and of the "Orestes," and were now regarded by their neighbours and by

themselves as men of importance. Never before had they possessed so much wealth: they believed that they

might settle in life, being now of sufficient standing to warrant their entering the married state; and a wife and

a hut were among their first investments. Sixteen yards were paid to the wife's parents, and a hut cost four

yards. We should have liked to have kept them in the ship, for they were well behaved and had learned a

great deal of the work required. Though they would not themselves go again, they engaged others for us; and

brought twice as many as we could take, of their brothers and cousins, who were eager to join the ship and go

with us up the Shire, or anywhere else. They all agreed to take halfpay until they too had learned to work;

and we found no scarcity of labour, though all that could be exported is now out of the country.

There had been a drought of unusual severity during the past season in the country between Lupata and

Kebrabasa, and it had extended northeast to the Manganja highlands. All the Tette slaves, except a very few

household ones, had been driven away by hunger, and were now far off in the woods, and wherever wild

fruit, or the prospect of obtaining anything whatever to keep the breath of life in them, was to be found. Their

masters were said never to expect to see them again. There have been two years of great hunger at Tette since

we have been in the country, and a famine like the present prevailed in 1854, when thousands died of

starvation. If men like the Cape farmers owned this country, their energy and enterprise would soon render

the crops independent of rain. There being plenty of slope or fall, the land could be easily irrigated from the

Zambesi and its tributary streams. A Portuguese colony can never prosper: it is used as a penal settlement,

and everything must be done military fashion. "What do I care for this country?" said the most enterprising of

the Tette merchants, "all I want is to make money as soon possible, and then go to Bombay and enjoy it." All

business at Tette was now suspended. Carriers could not be found to take the goods into the interior, and the

merchants could barely obtain food for their own families. At Mazaro more rain had fallen, and a tolerable

crop followed. The people of Shupanga were collecting and drying different wild fruits, nearly all of which

are far from palatable to a European taste. The root of a small creeper called "bise" is dug up and eaten. In

appearance it is not unlike the small white sweet potato, and has a little of the flavour of our potato. It would

be very good, if it were only a little larger. From another tuber, called "ulanga," very good starch can be

made. A few miles from Shupanga there is an abundance of large game, but the people here, though fond

The Shire having risen, we steamed off on the 10th of January, 1863, with the "Lady Nyassa" in tow. It was

not long before we came upon the ravages of the notorious Mariano. The survivors of a small hamlet, at the

foot of Morambala, were in a state of starvation, having lost their food by one of his marauding parties. The

women were in the fields collecting insects, roots, wild fruits, and whatever could be eaten, in order to drag

on their lives, if possible, till the next crop should be ripe. Two canoes passed us, that had been robbed by

Mariano's band of everything they had in them; the owners were gathering palmnuts for their subsistence.

They wore palmleaf aprons, as the robbers had stripped them of their clothing and ornaments. Dead bodies

floated past us daily, and in the mornings the paddles had to be cleared of corpses, caught by the floats during

the night. For scores of miles the entire population of the valley was swept away by this scourge Mariano,

who is again, as he was before, the great Portuguese slaveagent. It made the heart ache to see the

widespread desolation; the riverbanks, once so populous, all silent; the villages burned down, and an

oppressive stillness reigning where formerly crowds of eager sellers appeared with the various products of

their industry. Here and there might be seen on the bank a small dreary deserted shed, where had sat, day

after day, a starving fisherman, until the rising waters drove the fish from their wonted haunts, and left him to

die. Tingane had been defeated; his people had been killed, kidnapped, and forced to flee from their villages.

There were a few wretched survivors in a village above the Ruo; but the majority of the population was dead.

The sight and smell of dead bodies was everywhere. Many skeletons lay beside the path, where in their

weakness they had fallen and expired. Ghastly living forms of boys and girls, with dull dead eyes, were

crouching beside some of the huts. A few more miserable days of their terrible hunger, and they would be

Oppressed with the shocking scenes around, we visited the Bishop's grave; and though it matters little where

a good Christian's ashes rest, yet it was with sadness that we thought over the hopes which had clustered

around him, as he left the classic grounds of Cambridge, all now buried in this wild place. How it would have

In giving vent to the natural feelings of regret, that a man so eminently endowed and learned, as was Bishop

Mackenzie, should have been so soon cut off, some have expressed an opinion that it was wrong to use an

instrument so valuable MERELY to convert the heathen. If the attempt is to be made at all, it is "penny wise

and pound foolish" to employ any but the very best men, and those who are specially educated for the work.

An ordinary clergyman, however well suited for a parish, will not, without special training, make a

Missionary; and as to their comparative usefulness, it is like that of the man who builds an hospital, as

compared with that of the surgeon who in after years only administers for a time the remedies which the

founder had provided in perpetuity. Had the Bishop succeeded in introducing Christianity, his converts might

have been few, but they would have formed a continuous roll for all time to come.

The Shire fell two feet, before we reached the shallow crossing where we had formerly such difficulty, and

we had now two ships to take up. A hippopotamus was shot two miles above a bank on which the ship lay a

fortnight: it floated in three hours. As the boat was towing it down, the crocodiles were attracted by the dead

beast, and several shots had to be fired to keep them off. The bullet had not entered the brain of the animal,

but driven a splinter of bone into it. A little moisture with some gas issued from the wound, and this was all

that could tell the crocodiles down the stream of a dead hippopotamus; and yet they came up from miles

below. Their sense of smell must be as acute as their hearing; both are quite extraordinary. Dozens fed on the

meat we left. Our Krooman, Jumbo, used to assert that the crocodile never eats fresh meat, but always keeps

it till it is high and tenderand the stronger it smells the better he likes it. There seems to be some truth in

this. They can swallow but small pieces at a time, and find it difficult to tear fresh meat. In the act of

swallowing, which is like that of a dog, the head is raised out of the water. We tried to catch some, and one

was soon hooked; it required halfadozen hands to haul him up the river, and the sharkhook straightened,

and he got away. A large iron hook was next made, but, as the creatures could not swallow it, their jaws soon

pressed it straightand our crocodilefishing was a failure. As one might expect,from the power even of

The corpse of a boy floated past the ship; a monstrous crocodile rushed at it with the speed of a greyhound,

caught it and shook it, as a terrier dog does a rat. Others dashed at the prey, each with his powerful tail

causing the water to churn and froth, as he furiously tore off a piece. In a few seconds it was all gone. The

sight was frightful to behold. The Shire swarmed with crocodiles; we counted sixtyseven of these repulsive

reptiles on a single bank, but they are not as fierce as they are in some rivers. "Crocodiles," says Captain

Tuckey, "are so plentiful in the Congo, near the rapids, and so frequently carry off the women, who at

daylight go down to the river for water, that, while they are filling their calabashes, one of the party is usually

employed in throwing large stones into the water outside." Here, either a calabash on a long pole is used in

drawing water, or a fence is planted. The natives eat the crocodile, but to us the idea of tasting the

muskyscented, fishylooking flesh carried the idea of cannibalism. Humboldt remarks, that in South

America the alligators of some rivers are more dangerous than in others. Alligators differ from crocodiles in

the fourth or canine tooth going into a hole or socket in the upper jaw, while in the crocodile it fits into a

notch. The forefoot of the crocodile has five toes not webbed, the hindfoot has four toes which are webbed; in

the alligator the web is altogether wanting. They are so much alike that they would no doubt breed together.

One of the crocodiles which was shot had a piece snapped off the end of his tail, another had lost a forefoot in

fighting; we saw actual leeches between the teeth, such as are mentioned by Herodotus, but we never

witnessed the plover picking them out. Their greater fierceness in one part of the country than another is

doubtless owing to a scarcity of fish; in fact, Captain Tuckey says, of that part of the Congo, mentioned

above, "There are no fish here but catfish," and we found that the lake crocodiles, living in clear water, and

with plenty of fish, scarcely ever attacked man. The Shire teems with fish of many different kinds. The only

time, as already remarked, when its crocodiles are particularly to be dreaded, is when the river is in flood.

Then the fish are driven from their usual haunts, and no game comes down to the river to drink, water being

abundant in pools inland. Hunger now impels the crocodile to lie in wait for the women who come to draw

water, and on the Zambesi numbers are carried off every year. The danger is not so great at other seasons;

though it is never safe to bathe, or to stoop to drink, where one cannot see the bottom, especially in the

evening. One of the Makololo ran down in the dusk of the river; and, as he was busy tossing the water to his

mouth with his hand, in the manner peculiar to the natives, a crocodile rose suddenly from the bottom, and

caught him by the hand. The limb of a tree was fortunately within reach, and he had presence of mind to lay

hold of it. Both tugged and pulled; the crocodile for his dinner, and the man for dear life. For a time it

appeared doubtful whether a dinner or a life was to be sacrificed; but the man held on, and the monster let the

During our detention, in expectation of the permanent rise of the river in March, Dr. Kirk and Mr. C.

Livingstone collected numbers of the wadingbirds of the marshesand made pleasant additions to our

salted provisions, in geese, ducks, and hippopotamus flesh. One of the comb or knobnosed geese, on being

strangled in order to have its skin preserved without injury, continued to breathe audibly by the broken

humerus, or wingbone, and other means had to be adopted to put it out of pain. This was as if a man on the

gallows were to continue to breathe by a broken armbone, and afforded us an illustration of the fact, that in

birds, the vital air penetrates every part of the interior of their bodies. The breath passes through and round

about the lungsbathes the surfaces of the viscera, and enters the cavities of the bones; it even penetrates

into some spaces between the muscles of the neckand thus not only is the most perfect oxygenation of the

blood secured, but, the temperature of the blood being very high, the air in every part is rarefied, and the great

lightness and vigour provided for, that the habits of birds require. Several birds were found by Dr. Kirk to

have marrow in the tibiae, though these bones are generally described as hollow.

During the period of our detention on the shallow part of the river in March, Mr. Thornton came up to us

from Shupanga: he had, as before narrated, left the Expedition in 1859, and joined Baron van der Decken, in

the journey to Kilimanjaro, when, by an ascent of the mountain to the height of 8000 feet, it was first proved

to be covered with perpetual snow, and the previous information respecting it, given by the Church of

England Missionaries, Krapf and Rebman, confirmed. It is now well known that the Baron subsequently

ascended the Kilimanjaro to 14,000 feet, and ascertained its highest peak to be at least 20,000 feet above the

sea. Mr. Thornton made the map of the first journey, at Shupanga, from materials collected when with the

Baron; and when that work was accomplished, followed us. He was then directed to examine geologically the

Cataract district, but not to expose himself to contact with the Ajawa until the feelings of that tribe should be

The members of Bishop Mackenzie's party, on the loss of their head, fell back from Magomero on the

highlands, to Chibisa's, in the low lying Shire Valley; and Thornton, finding them suffering from want of

animal food, kindly volunteered to go across thence to Tette, and bring a supply of goats and sheep. We were

not aware of this step, to which the generosity of his nature prompted him, till two days after he had started.

In addition to securing supplies for the Universities' Mission, he brought some for the Expedition, and took

bearings, by which he hoped to connect his former work at Tette with the mountains in the Shire district. The

toil of this journey was too much for his strength, as with the addition of great scarcity of water, it had been

for that of Dr. Kirk and Rae, and he returned in a sadly haggard and exhausted condition; diarrhoea

supervened, and that ended in dysentery and fever, which terminated fatally on the 21st of April, 1863. He

received the unremitting attentions of Dr. Kirk, and Dr. Meller, surgeon of the "Pioneer," during the fortnight

of his illness; and as he had suffered very little from fever, or any other disease, in Africa, we had entertained

strong hopes that his youth and unimpaired constitution would have carried him through. During the night of

the 20th his mind wandered so much, that we could not ascertain his last wishes; and on the morning of the

21st, to our great sorrow, he died. He was buried on the 22nd, near a large tree on the right bank of the Shire,

about five hundred yards from the lowest of the Murchison Cataractsand close to a rivulet, at which the

No words can convey an adequate idea of the scene of widespread desolation which the once pleasant Shire

Valley now presented. Instead of smiling villages and crowds of people coming with things for sale, scarcely

a soul was to be seen; and, when by chance one lighted on a native, his frame bore the impress of hunger, and

his countenance the look of a cringing brokenspiritedness. A drought had visited the land after the

slavehunting panic swept over it. Had it been possible to conceive the thorough depopulation which had

ensued, we should have avoided coming up the river. Large masses of the people had fled down to the Shire,

only anxious to get the river between them and their enemies. Most of the food had been left behind; and

famine and starvation had cut off so many, that the remainder were too few to bury the dead. The corpses we

saw floating down the river were only a remnant of those that had perished, whom their friends, from

weakness, could not bury, nor overgorged crocodiles devour. It is true that famine caused a great portion of

this waste of human life: but the slavetrade must be deemed the chief agent in the ruin, because, as we were

informed, in former droughts all the people flocked from the hills down to the marshes, which are capable of

yielding crops of maize in less than three months, at any time of the year, and now they were afraid to do so.

A few, encouraged by the Mission in the attempt to cultivate, had their little patches robbed as successive

swarms of fugitives came from the hills. Who can blame these outcasts from house and home for stealing to

save their wretched lives, or wonder that the owners protected the little all, on which their own lives

depended, with club and spear? We were informed by Mr. Waller of the dreadful blight which had befallen

the once smiling Shire Valley. His words, though strong, failed to impress us with the reality. In fact, they

were received, as some may accept our own, as tinged with exaggeration; but when our eyes beheld the last

mere driblets of this cup of woe, we for the first time felt that the enormous wrongs inflicted on our

Wherever we took a walk, human skeletons were seen in every direction, and it was painfully interesting to

observe the different postures in which the poor wretches had breathed their last. A whole heap had been

thrown down a slope behind a village, where the fugitives often crossed the river from the east; and in one hut

of the same village no fewer than twenty drums had been collected, probably the ferryman's fees. Many had

ended their misery under shady treesothers under projecting crags in the hillswhile others lay in their

huts, with closed doors, which when opened disclosed the mouldering corpse with the poor rags round the

loinsthe skull fallen off the pillowthe little skeleton of the child, that had perished first, rolled up in a

mat between two large skeletons. The sight of this desert, but eighteen months ago a well peopled valley, now

literally strewn with human bones, forced the conviction upon us, that the destruction of human life in the

middle passage, however great, constitutes but a small portion of the waste, and made us feel that unless the

slavetradethat monster iniquity, which has so long brooded over Africais put down, lawful commerce

We believed that, if it were possible to get a steamer upon the Lake, we could by her means put a check on

the slavers from the East Coast; and aid more effectually still in the suppression of the slavetrade, by

introducing, by way of the Rovuma, a lawful traffic in ivory. We therefore unscrewed the "Lady Nyassa" at a

rivulet about five hundred yards below the first cataract, and began to make a road over the thirtyfive or

forty miles of land portage, by which to carry her up piecemeal. After mature consideration, we could not

imagine a more noble work of benevolence, than thus to introduce light and liberty into a quarter of this fair

earth, which human lust has converted into the nearest possible resemblance of what we conceive the infernal

regions to beand we sacrificed much of our private resources as an offering for the promotion of so good a

The chief part of the labour of roadmaking consisted in cutting down trees and removing stones. The

country being covered with open forest, a small tree had to be cut about every fifty or sixty yards. The land

near the river was so very much intersected by ravines, that search had to be made, a mile from its banks, for

more level ground. Experienced Hottentot drivers would have taken Cape wagons without any other trouble

than that of occasionally cutting down a tree. No tsetse infested this district, and the cattle brought from

Johanna flourished on the abundant pasture. The first halfmile of road led up, by a gradual slope, to an

altitude of two hundred feet above the ship, and a sensible difference of climate was felt even there. For the

remainder of the distance the height increased,till, at the uppermost cataract, we were more than 1200 feet

above the sea. The country here, having recovered from the effects of the drought, was bright with young

green woodland, and mountains of the same refreshing hue. But the absence of the crowds, which had

attended us as we carried up the boat, when the women followed us for miles with fine meal, vegetables, and

fat fowls for sale, and the boys were ever ready for a little joband the oppressive stillness bore heavily on

our spirits. The Portuguese of Tette had very effectually removed our labourers. Not an ounce of fresh

provisions could be obtained, except what could be shot, and even the food for our native crew had to be

The diet of salt provisions and preserved meats without vegetables, with the depression of spirits caused by

seeing how effectually a few wretched convicts, aided by the connivance of officials, of whom better might

have been hoped, could counteract our best efforts, and turn intended good to certain evil, brought on attacks

of dysentery, which went the round of the Expeditionand, Dr. Kirk and Charles Livingstone having

suffered most severely, it was deemed advisable that they should go home. This measure was necessary,

though much to the regret of allfor having done so much, they were naturally anxious to be present, when,

by the establishing ourselves on the Lake, all our efforts should be crowned with success. After it had been

decided that these two officers, and all the whites who could be spared, should be sent down to the sea for a

passage to England, Dr. Livingstone was seized in May with a severe attack of dysentery, which continued

for a month, and reduced him to a shadow. Dr. Kirk kindly remained in attendance till the worst was passed.

After a few miles of road were completed, and the oxen broken in, we resolved to try and render ourselves

independent of the south for fresh provisions, by going in a boat up the Shire, above the Cataracts, to the

tribes at the foot of Lake Nyassa, who were still untouched by the Ajawa invasion. In furtherance of this plan

Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Rae determined to walk up to examine, and, if need be, mend the boat which had

been left two seasons previously hung up to the limb of a large shady tree, before attempting to carry another

past the Cataracts. The "Pioneer," which was to be left in charge of our active and most trustworthy gunner,

Mr. Edward D. Young, R.N., was thoroughly roofed over with euphorbia branches and grass, so as

completely to protect her decks from the sun: she also received daily a due amount of manofwar scrubbing

and washing; and, besides having everything put in shipshape fashion, was every evening swung out into the

middle of the river, for the sake of the greater amount of air which circulated there. In addition to their daily

routine work of the ship, the three stokers, one sailor, and one carpenternow our complementwere

encouraged to hunt for guinea fowl, which in June, when the water inland is dried up, come in large flocks

to the river's banks, and roost on the trees at night. Everything that can be done to keep mind and body

While we were employed in these operations, some of the poor starved people about had been in the habit of

crossing the river, and reaping the selfsown mapira, in the old gardens of their countrymen. In the afternoon

of the 9th, a canoe came floating down empty, and shortly after a woman was seen swimming near the other

side, which was about two hundred yards distant from us. Our native crew manned the boat, and rescued her;

when brought on board, she was found to have an arrowhead, eight or ten inches long, in her back, below

the ribs, and slanting up through the diaphragm and left lung, towards the heartshe had been shot from

behind when stooping. Air was coming out of the wound, and, there being but an inch of the barbed arrow

head visible, it was thought better not to run the risk of her dying under the operation necessary for its

removal; so we carried her up to her own hut. One of her relatives was less scrupulous, for he cut out the

arrow and part of the lung. Mr. Young sent her occasionally portions of native corn, and strange to say found

that she not only became well, but stout. The constitution of these people seems to have a wonderful power of

selfrepairand it could be no slight privation which had cut off the many thousands that we saw dead

We regretted that, in consequence of Dr. Meller having now sole medical charge, we could not have his

company in our projected trip; but he found employment in botany and natural history, after the annual sickly

season of March, April, and May was over; and his constant presence was not so much required at the ship.

Later in the year, when he could be well spared, he went down the river to take up an appointment he had

been offered in Madagascar; but unfortunately was so severely tried by illness while detained at the coast,

that for nearly two years he was not able to turn his abilities as a naturalist to account by proceeding to that

island. We have no doubt but he will yet distinguish himself in that untrodden field.

On the 16th of June we started for the Upper Cataracts, with a mule cart, our road lying a distance of a mile

west from the river. We saw many of the deserted dwellings of the people who formerly came to us; and were

very much struck by the extent of land under cultivation, though that, compared with the whole country, is

very small. Large patches of mapira continued to grow,as it is said it does from the roots for three years.

The mapira was mixed with tall bushes of the Congobean, castoroil plants, and cotton. The largest patch of

this kind we paced, and found it to be six hundred and thirty paces on one sidethe rest were from one acre

to three, and many not more than onethird of an acre. The cottonof very superior qualitywas now

dropping off the bushes, to be left to rot there was no one to gather what would have been of so much

value in Lancashire. The huts, in the different villages we entered, were standing quite perfect. The mortars

for pounding cornthe stones for grinding itthe water and beer potsthe empty cornsafes and kitchen

utensils, were all untouched; and most of the doors were shut, as if the starving owners had gone out to

wander in search of roots or fruits in the forest, and had never returned. When opened, several huts revealed a

ghastly sight of human skeletons. Some were seen in such unnatural positions, as to give the idea that they

had expired in a faint, when trying to reach something to allay the gnawings of hunger.

We took several of the men as far as the MukuruMadse for the sake of the change of air and for occupation,

and also to secure for the ships a supply of buffalo meatas those animals were reported to be in abundance

on that stream. But though it was evident from the tracks that the report was true, it was impossible to get a

glimpse of them. The grass being taller than we were, and pretty thickly planted, they always knew of our

approach before we saw them. And the first intimation we had of their being near was the sound they made in

rushing over the stones, breaking the branches, and knocking their horns against each other. Once, when

seeking a ford for the cart, at sunrise, we saw a herd slowly wending up the hillside from the water. Sending

for a rifle, and stalking with intense eagerness for a fat beefsteak, instead of our usual fare of salted

provisions, we got so near that we could hear the bulls uttering their hoarse deep low, but could see nothing

except the mass of yellow grass in front; suddenly the buffalobirds sounded their alarmwhistle, and away

dashed the troop, and we got sight of neither birds nor beasts. This would be no country for a sportsman

except when the grass is short. The animals are wary, from the dread they have of the poisoned arrows. Those

of the natives who do hunt are deeply imbued with the hunting spirit, and follow the game with a stealthy

perseverance and cunning, quite extraordinary. The arrow making no noise, the herd is followed up until the

poison takes effect, and the wounded animal falls out. It is then patiently watched till it dropsa portion of

Poisoned arrows are made in two pieces. An iron barb is firmly fastened to one end of a small wand of wood,

ten inches or a foot long, the other end of which, fined down to a long point, is nicely fitted, though not

otherwise secured, in the hollow of the reed, which forms the arrow shaft. The wood immediately below the

iron head is smeared with the poison. When the arrow is shot into an animal, the reed either falls to the

ground at once, or is very soon brushed off by the bushes; but the iron barb and poisoned upper part of the

wood remain in the wound. If made in one piece, the arrow would often be torn out, head and all, by the long

shaft catching in the underwood, or striking against trees. The poison used here, and called kombi, is obtained

from a species of strophanthus, and is very virulent. Dr. Kirk found by an accidental experiment on himself

that it acts by lowering the pulse. In using his toothbrush, which had been in a pocket containing a little of

the poison, he noticed a bitter taste, but attributed it to his having sometimes used, the handle in taking

quinine. Though the quantity was small, it immediately showed its power by lowering his pulse which at the

time had been raised by a cold, and next day he was perfectly restored. Not much can be inferred from a

single case of this kind, but it is possible that the kombi may turn out a valuable remedy; and as Professor

Sharpey has conducted a series of experiments with this substance, we look with interest for the results. An

alkaloid has been obtained from it similar to strychnine. There is no doubt that all kinds of wild animals die

from the effects of poisoned arrows, except the elephant and hippopotamus. The amount of poison that this

little weapon can convey into their systems being too small to kill those huge beasts, the hunters resort to the

Another kind of poison was met with on Lake Nyassa, which was said to be used exclusively for killing men.

It was put on small wooden arrowheads, and carefully protected by a piece of maizeleaf tied round it. It

caused numbness of the tongue when the smallest particle was tasted. The Bushmen of the northern part of

the Kalahari were seen applying the entrails of a small caterpillar which they termed 'Nga to their arrows.

This venom was declared to be so powerful in producing delirium, that a man in dying returned in

imagination to a state of infancy, and would call for his mother's breast. Lions when shot with it are said to

perish in agonies. The poisonous ingredient in this case may be derived from the plant on which the

caterpillar feeds. It is difficult to conceive by what sort of experiments the properties of these poisons, known

for generations, were proved. Probably the animal instincts, which have become so obtuse by civilization,

that children in England eat the berries of the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) without suspicion, were

in the early uncivilized state much more keen. In some points instinct is still retained among savages. It is

related that in the celebrated voyage of the French navigator, Bougainville, a young lady, who had assumed

the male attire, performed all the hard duties incident to the calling of a common sailor; and, even as servant

to the geologist, carried a bag of stones and specimens over hills and dales without a complaint, and without

having her sex suspected by her associates; but on landing among the savages of one of the South Sea

Islands, she was instantly recognized as a female. They began to show their impressions in a way that

compelled her to confess her sex, and throw herself on the protection of the commander, which of course was

granted. In like manner, the earlier portions of the human family may have had their instincts as to plants

more highly developed than any of their descendantsif indeed much more knowledge than we usually

The MukuruMadse has a deep rocky bed. The water is generally about four feet deep, and fifteen or twenty

yards broad. Before reaching it, we passed five or six gullies; but beyond it the country, for two or three miles

from the river, was comparatively smooth. The long grass was overrunning all the native paths, and one

species (sanu), which has a sharp barbed seed a quarter of an inch in length, enters every pore of woollen

clothing and highly irritates the skin. From its hard, sharp point a series of minute barbs are laid back, and

give the seed a hold wherever it enters: the slightest touch gives it an entering motion, and the little hooks

prevent its working out. These seeds are so abundant in some spots, that the inside of the stocking becomes

worse than the roughest hair shirt. It is, however, an excellent selfsower, and fine fodder; it rises to the

height of common meadowgrass in England, and would be a capital plant for spreading over a new country

We have sometimes noticed two or three leaves together pierced through by these seeds, and thus made, as it

We always follow the native paths, though they are generally not more than fifteen inches broad, and so often

have deep little holes in them, made for the purpose of setting traps for small animals, and are so much

obscured by the long grass, that one has to keep one's eyes on the ground more than is pleasant. In spite,

however, of all drawbacks, it is vastly more easy to travel on these tracks than to go straight over uncultivated

ground, or virgin forest. A path usually leads to some village, though sometimes it turns out to be a mere

In going north, we came into a part called Mpemba where Chibisa was owned as chief, but the people did not

know that he had been assassinated by the Portuguese Terera. A great deal of grain was lying round the hut,

where we spent the night. Very large numbers of turtledoves feasted undisturbed on the tall stalked mapira

ears, and we easily secured plenty of fine fat guineafowlsnow allowed to feed leisurely in the deserted

gardens. The reason assigned for all this listless improvidence was "There are no women to grind the corn

The cotton patches in all cases seemed to have been so well cared for, and kept so free of weeds formerly,

that, though now untended, but few weeds had sprung up; and the bushes were thus preserved in the annual

grass burnings. Many baobabtrees grow in different spots, and the few people seen were using the white

On passing Malango, near the uppermost cataract, not a soul was to be seen; but, as we rested opposite a

beautiful treecovered island, the merry voices of children at play fell on our earsthe parents had fled

thither for protection from the slavehunting Ajawa, still urged on by the occasional visits of the Portuguese

agents from Tette. The Ajawa, instead of passing below the Cataracts, now avoided us, and crossed over to

the east side near to the tree on which we had hung the boat. Those of the Manganja, to whom we could make

ourselves known, readily came to us; but the majority had lost all confidence in themselves, in each other,

and in every one else. The boat had been burned about three months previously, and the Manganja were very

anxious that we should believe that this had been the act of the Ajawa; but on scanning the spot we saw that it

was more likely to have caught fire in the grassburning of the country. Had we intended to be so long in

returning to it, we should have hoisted it bottom upwards; for, as it was, it is probable that a quantity of dried

leaves lay inside, and a spark ignited the whole. All the trees within fifty yards were scorched and killed, and

the nails, iron, and copper sheathing, all lay undisturbed beneath. Had the Ajawa done the deed, they would

Our hopes of rendering ourselves independent of the south for provisions, by means of this boat, being thus

disappointed, we turned back with the intention of carrying another up to the same spot; and, in order to find

level ground for this, we passed across from the Shire at Malango to the upper part of the stream Lesungwe.

A fine, active, intelligent fellow, called Pekila, guided us, and was remarkable as almost the only one of the

population left with any spirit in him. The depressing effect which the slavehunting scourge has upon the

native mind, though little to be wondered at, is sad, very sad to witness. Musical instruments, mats, pillows,

mortars for pounding meal, were lying about unused, and becoming the prey of the white ants. With all their

little comforts destroyed, the survivors were thrown still further back into barbarism.

It is of little importance perhaps to any but travellers to notice that in occupying one night a wellbuilt hut,

which had been shut up for some time, the air inside at once gave us a chill, and an attack of fever; both of

which vanished when the place was wellventilated by means of a fire. We have frequently observed that

lighting a fire early in the mornings, even in the hottest time of the year, gives freshness to the whole house,

On the night of the 1st July, 1863, several loud peals of thunder awoke us; the moon was shining brightly,

and not a cloud to be seen. All the natives remarked on the clearness of the sky at the time, and next morning

On arriving at the ship on the 2nd July, we found a despatch from Earl Russell, containing instructions for the

withdrawal of the Expedition. The devastation caused by slavehunting and famine lay all around. The

labour had been as completely swept away from the Great Shire Valley, as it had been from the Zambesi,

wherever Portuguese intrigue or power extended. The continual forays of Mariano had spread ruin and

While this was going on in our rear, the Tette slavehunters from the West had stimulated the Ajawa to

sweep all the Manganja off the hills on our East; and slaving parties for this purpose were still passing the

Shire above the Cataracts. In addition to the confession of the Governor of Tette, of an intention to go on with

this slaving in accordance with the counsel of his elder brother at Mosambique, we had reason to believe that

slavery went on under the eye of his Excellency, the GovernorGeneral himself; and this was subsequently

corroborated by our recognizing two women at Mosambique who had lived within a hundred yards of the

Missionstation at Magomero. They were well known to our attendants, and had formed a part of a gang of

several hundreds taken to Mosambique by the Ajawa at the very time when his Excellency was entertaining

English officers with anti slavery palavers. To any one who understands how minute the information is,

which Portuguese governors possess by means of their own slaves, and through gossiping traders who seek to

curry their favour, it is idle to assert that all this slaving goes on without their approval and connivance.

If more had been wanted to prove the hopelessness of producing any change in the system which has

prevailed ever since our allies, the Portuguese, entered the country, we had it in the impunity with which the

freebooter, Terera, who had murdered Chibisa, was allowed to carry on his forays. Belchoir, another

marauder, had been checked, but was still allowed to make war, as they term slavehunting.

Mr. Horace Waller was living for some five months on Mount Morambala, a position from which the whole

process of the slavetrade, and depopulation of the country around could be well noted. The mountain

overlooks the Shire, the beautiful meanderings of which are distinctly seen, on clear days, for thirty miles.

This river was for some time supposed to be closed against Mariano, who, as a mere matter of form, was

declared a rebel against the Portuguese flag. When, however, it became no longer possible to keep up the

sham, the river was thrown open to him; and Mr. Waller has seen in a single day from fifteen to twenty

canoes of different sizes going down, laden with slaves, to the Portuguese settlements from the socalled

rebel camp. These cargoes were composed entirely of women and children. For three months this traffic was

incessant, and at last, so completely was the mask thrown off, that one of the officials came to pay a visit to

Bishop Tozer on another part of the same mountain, and, combining business with pleasure, collected

payment for some canoe work done for the Missionary party, and with this purchased slaves from the rebels,

who had only to be hailed from the bank of the river. When he had concluded the bargain he trotted the slaves

out for inspection in Mr. Waller's presence. This official, Senhor Mesquita, was the only officer who could be

forced to live at the Kongone. From certain circumstances in his life, he had fallen under the power of the

local Government; all the other Customhouse officers refused to go to Kongone, so here poor Mesquita

must live on a miserable pittancemust live, and perhaps slave, sorely against his will. His name is not

brought forward with a view of throwing any odium on his character. The disinterested kindness which he

showed to Dr. Meller, and others, forbids that he should be mentioned by us with anything like unkindness.

Under all these considerations, with the fact that we had not found the Rovuma so favourable for navigation

at the time of our visit as we expected, it was impossible not to coincide in the wisdom of our withdrawal; but

we deeply regretted that we had ever given credit to the Portuguese Government for any desire to ameliorate

the condition of the African race; for, with half the labour and expense anywhere else, we should have made

an indelible mark of improvement on a section of the Continent. Viewing Portuguese statesmen in the light of

the laws they have passed for the suppression of slavery and the slavetrade, and by the standard of the high

character of our own public men, it cannot be considered weakness to have believed in the sincerity of the

anxiety to aid our enterprise, professed by the Lisbon Ministry. We hoped to benefit both Portuguese and

Africans by introducing freetrade and Christianity. Our allies, unfortunately, cannot see the slightest benefit

in any measure that does not imply raising themselves up by thrusting others down. The official paper of the

Lisbon Government has since let us know "that their policy was directed to frustrating the grasping designs of

the British Government to the dominion of Eastern Africa." We, who were on the spot, and behind the scenes,

knew that feelings of private benevolence had the chief share in the operations undertaken for introducing the

reign of peace and good will on the Lakes and central regions, which for ages have been the abodes of

violence and bloodshed. But that great change was not to be accomplished. The narrowminded would

ascribe all that was attempted to the grasping propensity of the English. But the motives that actuate many in

England, both in public and private life, are much more noble than the world gives them credit for.

Seeing, then, that we were not yet arrived at "the good time coming," and that it was quite impossible to take

the "Pioneer" down to the sea till the floods of December, we made arrangements to screw the "Lady Nyassa"

together; and, in order to improve the time intervening, we resolved to carry a boat past the Cataracts a

second time, sail along the eastern shore of the Lake, and round the northern end, and also collect data by

which to verify the information collected by Colonel Rigby, that the 19,000 slaves, who go through the

Customhouse of Zanzibar annually, are chiefly drawn from Lake Nyassa and the Valley of the Shire.

Our party consisted of twenty natives, some of whom were Johanna men, and were supposed to be capable of

managing the six oxen which drew the small wagon with a boat on it. A team of twelve Cape oxen, with a

Hottentot driver and leader, would have taken the wagon over the country we had to pass through with the

greatest ease; but no sooner did we get beyond the part of the road already made, than our drivers

encountered obstructions in the way of trees and gullies, which it would have been a waste of time to have

overcome by felling timber and hauling out the wagon by block and tackle purchases. The Ajawa and

Manganja settled at Chibisa's were therefore sent for, and they took the boat on their shoulders and carried it

briskly, in a few days, past all the Cataracts except one; then coming to a comparatively still reach of the

river, they took advantage of it to haul her up a couple of miles. The Makololo had her then entirely in

charge; for, being accustomed to rapids in their own country, no better boatmen could be desired. The river

here is very narrow, and even in what are called still places, the current is very strong, and often obliged them

to haul the boat along by the reeds on the banks, or to hand a towrope ashore. The reeds are full of cowitch

(Dolichos pruriens), the pods of which are covered with what looks a fine velvety down, but is in reality a

multitude of fine prickles, which go in by the million, and caused an itching and stinging in the naked bodies

of those who were pulling the towrope, that made them wriggle as if stung by a whole bed of nettles. Those

on board required to be men of ready resource with oars and puntingpoles, and such they were. But,

nevertheless, they found, after attempting to pass by a rock, round which the water rushed in whirls, that the

wiser plan would be to take the boat ashore, and carry her past the last Cataract. When this was reported, the

carriers were called from the various shady trees under which they had taken refuge from the sun. This was

midwinter, but the sun is always hot by day here, though the nights are cold. Five Zambesi men, who had

been all their lives accustomed to great heavy canoes,the chief recommendation of which is said to be, that

they can be run against a rock with the full force of the current without injurywere very desirous to show

how much better they could manage our boat than the Makololo; three jumped into her when our backs were

turned, and two hauled her up a little way; the tide caught her bow, we heard a shout of distress, the rope was

out of their hands in a moment, and there she was, bottom upwards; a turn or two in an eddy, and away she

went, like an arrow, down the Cataracts. One of the men in swimming ashore saved a rifle. The whole party

The five performers in this catastrophe approached with penitential looks. They had nothing to say, nor had

we. They bent down slowly, and touched our feet with both hands. "Ku kuata moendo""to catch the

foot"is their way of asking forgiveness. It was so like what we have seen a little child dotry to bring a

dish unbidden to its papa, and letting it fall, burst into a cry of distressthat they were only sentenced to go

back to the ship, get provisions, and, in the ensuing journey on foot, carry as much as they could, and thus

It was excessively annoying to lose all this property, and be deprived of the means of doing the work

proposed, on the east and north of the Lake; but it would have been like crying over spilt milk to do otherwise

now than make the best use we could of our legs. The men were sent back to the ship for provisions, cloth,

and beads; and while they are gone, we may say a little of the Cataracts which proved so fatal to our boating

Dr. Livingstone's further explorationsEffects of slavetrade Kirk's rangeAjawa migrationNative

The Murchison Cataracts of the Shire river begin in 15 degrees 20 minutes S., and end in lat. 15 degrees 55

minutes S., the difference of latitude is therefore 35 minutes. The river runs in this space nearly north and

south, till we pass Malango; so the entire distance is under 40 miles. The principal Cataracts are five in

number, and are called Pamofunda or Pamozima, Morewa, Panoreba or Tedzane, Pampatamanga, and

Papekira. Besides these, three or four smaller ones might be mentioned; as, for instance, Mamvira, where in

our ascent we first met the broken water, and heard that gushing sound which, from the interminable

windings of some 200 miles of river below, we had come to believe the tranquil Shire could never make.

While these lesser cataracts descend at an angle of scarcely 20 degrees, the greater fall 100 feet in 100 yards,

at an angle of about 45 degrees, and one at an angle of 70 degrees. One part of Pamozima is perpendicular,

and, when the river is in flood, causes a cloud of vapour to ascend, which, in our journey to Lake Shirwa, we

saw at a distance of at least eight miles. The entire descent from the Upper to the Lower Shire is 1200 feet.

Only on one spot in all that distance is the current moderatenamely, above Tedzane. The rest is all rapid,

and much of it being only fifty or eighty yards wide, and rushing like a millrace, it gives the impression of

waterpower, sufficient to drive all the mills in Manchester, running to waste. Pamofunda, or Pamozima, has

a deep shady grove on its right bank. When we were walking alone through its dark shade, we were startled

by a shocking smell like that of a dissectingroom; and on looking up saw dead bodies in mats suspended

from the branches of the trees, a mode of burial somewhat similar to that which we subsequently saw

practised by the Parsees in their "towers of silence" at Poonah, near Bombay. The name Pamozima means,

"the departed spirits or gods"a fit name for a place over which, according to the popular belief, the

The rock lowest down in the series is dark reddishgrey syenite. This seems to have been an upheaving

agent, for the mica schists above it are much disturbed. Dark trappean rocks full of hornblende have in many

places burst through these schists, and appear in nodules on the surface. The highest rock seen is a fine

sandstone of closer grain than that at Tette, and quite metamorphosed where it comes into contact with the

igneous rocks below it. It sometimes gives place to quartz and reddish clay schists, much baked by heat. This

is the usual geological condition on the right bank of the Cataracts. On the other side we pass over masses of

porphyritic trap, in contact with the same mica schists, and these probably give to the soil the great fertility

we observed. The great body of the mountains is syenite. So much mica is washed into the river, that on

looking attentively on the stream one sees myriads of particles floating and glancing in the sun; and this, too,

It was the 15th of August before the men returned from the ship, accompanied by Mr. Rae and the steward of

the "Pioneer." They brought two oxen, one of which was instantly slaughtered to put courage into all hearts,

and some bottles of wine, a present from Waller and Alington. We never carried wine before, but this was

precious as an expression of kindheartedness on the part of the donors. If one attempted to carry either wine

or spirits, as a beverage, he would require a whole troop of followers for nothing else. Our greatest luxury in

travelling was tea or coffee. We never once carried sugar enough to last a journey, but coffee is always good,

while the sugarless tea is only bearable, because of the unbearable gnawing feeling of want and sinking

which ensues if we begin to travel in the mornings without something warm in the stomach. Our drink

generally was water, and if cool, nothing can equal it in a hot climate. We usually carried a bottle of brandy

rolled up in our blankets, but that was used only as a medicine; a spoonful in hot water before going to bed, to

fend off a chill and fever. Spirits always do harm, if the fever has fairly begun; and it is probable that

Mr. Rae had made gratifying progress in screwing together the "Lady Nyassa." He had the zealous

cooperation of three as fine steady workmen as ever handled tools; and, as they were noble specimens of

English sailors, we would fain mention the names of men who are an honour to the British navyJohn Reid,

John Pennell, and Richard Wilson. The reader will excuse our doing so, but we desire to record how much

they were esteemed, and how thankful we felt for their good behaviour. The weather was delightfully cool;

and, with full confidence in those left behind, it was with light hearts we turned our faces north. Mr. Rae

accompanied us a day in front; and, as all our party had earnestly advised that at least two Europeans should

be associated together on the journey, the steward was at the last moment taken. Mr. Rae returned to get the

"Lady Nyassa" ready for sea; and, as she drew less water than the "Pioneer," take her down to the ocean in

October. One reason for taking the steward is worth recording. Both he and a man named King, {5} who,

though only a leading stoker in the Navy, had been a promising student in the University of Aberdeen, had

got into that weak bloodlesslooking state which residence in the lowlands without much to do or think about

often induces. The best thing for this is change and an active life. A couple of days' march only as far as the

MukuruMadse, infused so much vigour into King that he was able to walk briskly back. Consideration for

the steward's health led to his being selected for this northern journey, and the measure was so completely

successful that it was often, in the hard march, a subject of regret that King had not been taken too. A

removal of only a hundred yards is sometimes so beneficial that it ought in severe cases never to be omitted.

Our object now was to get away to the N.N.W., proceed parallel with Lake Nyassa, but at a considerable

distance west of it, and thus pass by the Mazitu or Zulus near its northern end without contact ascertain

whether any large river flowed into the Lake from the west visit Lake Moelo, if time permitted, and collect

information about the trade on the great slave route, which crosses the Lake at its southern end, and at Tsenga

and Kotakota. The Makololo were eager to travel fast, because they wanted to be back in time to hoe their

In going in the first instance N.E. from the uppermost Cataract, we followed in a measure the great bend of

the river towards the foot of Mount Zomba. Here we had a view of its most imposing side, the west, with the

plateau some 3000 feet high, stretching away to its south, and Mounts Chiradzuru and Mochiru towering aloft

to the sky. From that goodly highland station, it was once hoped by the noble Mackenzie, who, for largeness

of heart and loving disposition, really deserved to be called the "Bishop of Central Africa," that light and

liberty would spread to all the interior. We still think it may be a centre for civilizing influences; for any one

descending from these cool heights, and stepping into a boat on the Upper Shire, can sail three hundred miles

We passed through a tract of country covered with mopane trees, where the hard baked soil refused to let the

usual thick crops of grass grow; and here we came upon very many tracks of buffaloes, elephants, antelopes,

and the spoor of one lion. An ox we drove along with us, as provision for the way, was sorely bitten by the

tsetse. The effect of the bite was, as usual, quite apparent two days afterwards, in the general flaccidity of the

muscles, the drooping ears, and looks of illness. It always excited our wonder that we, who were frequently

much bitten too by the same insects, felt no harm from their attacks. Man shares the immunity of the wild

Finding a few people on the evening of the 20th of August, who were supporting a wretched existence on

tamarinds and mice, we ascertained that there was no hope of our being able to buy food anywhere nearer

than the Lakelet Pamalombe, where the Ajawa chief, Kainka, was now living; but that plenty could be found

with the Maravi female chief, Nyango. We turned away northwestwards, and struck the stream Ribve

As the Rivirivi came from the N.W. we continued to travel along its banks, until we came to people who

had successfully defended themselves against the hordes of the Ajawa. By employing the men of one village

to go forward and explain who we were to the next, we managed to prevent the frightened inhabitants from

considering us a fresh party of Ajawa, or of Portuguese slaving agents. Here they had cultivated maize, and

were willing to sell, but no persuasion could induce them to give us guides to the chieftainess, Nyango. They

evidently felt that we were not to be trusted; though, as we had to certify to our own character, our

companions did not fail "to blow our own trumpet," with blasts in which modesty was quite out of the

question. To allay suspicion, we had at last to refrain from mentioning the lady's name.

It would be wearisome to repeat the names of the villages we passed on our way to the northwest. One was

the largest we ever saw in Africa, and quite deserted, with the usual sad sight of many skeletons lying about.

Another was called Tette. We know three places of this name, which fact shows it to be a native word; it

seems to mean a place where the water rushes over rocks. A third village was called Chipanga (a great work),

a name identical with the Shupanga of the Portuguese. This repetition of names may indicate that the same

people first took these epithets in their traditional passage from north to south.

At this season of the year the nights are still cold, and the people, having no crops to occupy their attention,

do not stir out till long after the sun is up. At other times they are off to their fields before the day dawns, and

the first sound one hears is the loud talking of men and women, in which they usually indulge in the dark to

scare off beasts by the sound of the human voice. When no work is to be done, the first warning of

Having been delayed one morning by some negotiation about guides, who were used chiefly to introduce us

to other villages, we two whites walked a little way ahead, taking the direction of the stream. The men having

been always able to find out our route by the prints of our shoes, we went on for a number of miles. This

time, however, they lost our track, and failed to follow us. The path was well marked by elephants, hyenas,

pallahs, and zebras, but for many a day no human foot had trod it. When the sun went down a deserted hamlet

was reached, where we made comfortable beds for ourselves of grass. Firing muskets to attract the attention

of those who have strayed is the usual resource in these cases. On this occasion the sound of firearms tended

to mislead us; for, hearing shots next morning, a long weary march led us only to some native hunters, who

had been shooting buffaloes. Returning to a small village, we met with some people who remembered our

passing up to the Lake in the boat; they were as kind as they could be. The only food they possessed was

tamarinds, prepared with ashes, and a little cowitch meal. The cowitch, as mentioned before, has a velvety

brown covering of minute prickles, which, if touched, enter the pores of the skin and cause a painful tingling.

The women in times of scarcity collect the pods, kindle a fire of grass over them to destroy the prickles, then

steep the beans till they begin to sprout, wash them in pure water, and either boil them or pound them into

meal, which resembles our bean meal. This plant climbs up the long grass, and abounds in all reedy parts,

and, though a plague to the traveller who touches its pods, it performs good service in times of famine by

Having travelled at least twenty miles in search of our party that day, our rest on a mat in the best hut of the

village was very sweet. We had dined the evening before on a pigeon each, and had eaten only a handful of

kitedzi porridge this afternoon. The good wife of the village took a little corn which she had kept for seed,

ground it after dark, and made it into porridge. This, and a cup of wild vegetables of a sweetish taste for a

relish, a little boy brought in and put down, with several vigorous claps of his hands, in the manner which is

On the third day of separation, Akosanjere, the headman of this village, conducted us forward to our party

who had gone on to Nseze, a district to the westward. This incident is mentioned, not for any interest it

possesses, apart from the idea of the people it conveys. We were completely separated from our men for

nearly three days, and had nothing wherewith to purchase food. The people were sorely pressed by famine

and war, and their hospitality, poor as it was, did them great credit, and was most grateful to us. Our own men

had become confused and wandered, but had done their utmost to find us; on our rejoining them, the ox was

slain, and all, having been on short commons, rejoiced in this "day of slaughter." Akosanjere was, of course,

As we pursued our way, we came close up to a range of mountains, the most prominent peak of which is

called Mvai. This is a great, bare, rounded block of granite shooting up from the rest of the chain. It and

several other masses of rock are of a light grey colour, with white patches, as if of lichens; the sides and

summits are generally thinly covered with rather scraggy trees. There are several other prominent

peaksone, for instance, still further north, called Chirobve. Each has a name, but we could never ascertain

that there was an appellation which applied to the whole. This fact, and our wish to commemorate the name

of Dr. Kirk, induced us afterwards, when we could not discover a particular peak mentioned to us formerly as

Molomoaokoku, or Cock'sbill, to call the whole chain from the west of the Cataracts up to the north end

of the Lake, "Kirk's Range." The part we slept at opposite Mvai was named Paudio, and was evidently a

continuation of the district of one of our stations on the Shire, at which observations for latitude were

Leaving Paudio, we had Kirk's Range close on our left and at least 3000 feet above us, and probably not less

than 5000 feet above the sea. Far to our right extended a long green wooded country rising gradually up to a

ridge, ornamented with several detached mountains, which bounded the Shire Valley. In front, northwards,

lay a valley as rich and lovely as we ever saw anywhere, terminating at the mountains, which, stretched away

some thirty miles beyond our range of vision and ended at Cape Maclear. The groups of trees had never been

subjected to the landscape gardener's art; but had been cut down mercilessly, just as suited the convenience of

the cultivator; yet the various combinations of open forest, sloping woodland, grassy lawns, and massive

clumps of dark green foliage along the running streams, formed as beautiful a landscape as could be seen on

the Thames. This valley is named Goa or Gova, and as we moved through it we found that what was smooth

to the eye was very much furrowed by running streams winding round innumerable knolls. These little

brooklets came down from the range on our left, and the water was deliciously cool.

When we came abreast of the peak Chirobve, the people would no longer give us guides. They were afraid of

their enemies, whose dwellings we now had on our east; and, proceeding without any one to lead us, or to

introduce us to the inhabitants, we were perplexed by all the paths running zigzag across instead of along the

valley. They had been made by the villagers going from the hamlets on the slopes to their gardens in the

meadows below. To add to our difficulties, the rivulets and mountaintorrents had worn gullies some thirty

or forty feet deep, with steep sides that could not be climbed except at certain points. The remaining

inhabitants on the flank of the range when they saw strangers winding from side to side, and often attempting

to cross these torrent beds at impossible places, screamed out their shrill waralarm, and made the valley ring

with their wild outcries. It was war, and war alone, and we were too deep down in the valley to make our

voices heard in explanation. Fortunately, they had burned off the long grass to a great extent. It only here and

there hid them from us. Selecting an open spot, we spent a night regarded by all around us as slavehunters,

but were undisturbed, though the usual way of treating an enemy in this part of the country is by night attack.

The nights at the altitude of the valley were cool, the lowest temperature shown being 37 degrees; at 9 a.m.

and 9 p.m. it was 58 degrees, about the average temperature of the day; at midday 82 degrees, and sunset 70

degrees. Our march was very much hindered by the imperfectly burned corn and grass stalks having fallen

across the paths. To a reader in England this will seem a very small obstacle. But he must fancy the grass

stems as thick as his little finger, and the cornstalks like so many walkingsticks lying in one direction, and

so supporting each other that one has to lift his feet up as when wading through deep high heather. The stems

of grass showed the causes of certain explosions as loud as pistols, which are heard when the annual fires

come roaring over the land. The heated air inside expanding bursts the stalk with a loud report, and strews the

A very great deal of native corn had been cultivated here, and we saw buffaloes feeding in the deserted

On the 29th, seeing some people standing under a tree by a village, we sat down, and sent Masego, one of our

party, to communicate. The headman, Matunda, came back with him, bearing a calabash with water for us.

He said that all the people had fled from the Ajawa, who had only just desisted from their career of pillage on

being paid five persons as a fine for some offence for which they had commenced the invasion. Matunda had

plenty of grain to sell, and all the women were soon at work grinding it into meal. We secured an abundant

supply, and four milk goats. The Manganja goat is of a very superior breed to the general African animal,

being short in the legs and having a finelyshaped broad body. By promising the Makololo that, when we no

longer needed the milk, they should have the goats to improve the breed of their own at home, they were

induced to take the greatest possible care of both goats and kids in driving and pasturing.

After leaving Matunda, we came to the end of the highland valley; and, before descending a steep declivity of

a thousand feet towards the part which may be called the heel of the Lake, we had the bold mountains of

Cape Maclear on our right, with the blue water at their base, the hills of Tsenga in the distance in front, and

Kirk's Range on our left, stretching away northwards, and apparently becoming lower. As we came down into

a fine rich undulating valley, many perennial streams running to the east from the hills on our left were

crossed, while all those behind us on the higher ground seemed to unite in one named Lekue, which flowed

After a long day's march in the valley of the Lake, where the temperature was very much higher than in that

we had just left, we entered the village of Katosa, which is situated on the bank of a stream among gigantic

timber trees, and found there a large party of AjawaWaiau, they called themselvesall armed with

muskets. We sat down among them, and were soon called to the chiefs court, and presented with an ample

mess of porridge, buffalo meat, and beer. Katosa was more frank than any Manganja chief we had met, and

complimented us by saying that "we must be his 'Bazimo' (good spirits of his ancestors); for when he lived at

Pamalombe, we lighted upon him from abovemen the like of whom he had never seen before, and coming

he knew not whence." He gave us one of his own large and clean huts to sleep in; and we may take this

opportunity of saying that the impression we received, from our first journey on the hills among the villages

of Chisunse, of the excessive dirtiness of the Manganja, was erroneous. This trait was confined to the cool

highlands. Here crowds of men and women were observed to perform their ablutions daily in the stream that

ran past their villages; and this we have observed elsewhere to be a common custom with both Manganja and

Before we started on the morning of the 1st September, Katosa sent an enormous calabash of beer, containing

at least three gallons, and then came and wished us to "stop a day and eat with him." On explaining to him the

reasons for our haste, he said that he was in the way by which travellers usually passed, he never stopped

them in their journeys, but would like to look at us for a day. On our promising to rest a little with him on our

return, he gave us about two pecks of rice, and three guides to conduct us to a subordinate female chief,

The Ajawa, from having taken slaves down to Quillimane and Mosambique, knew more of us than Katosa

did. Their muskets were carefully polished, and never out of these slaver's hands for a moment, though in the

chiefs presence. We naturally felt apprehensive that we should never see Katosa again. A migratory afflatus

seems to have come over the Ajawa tribes. Wars among themselves, for the supply of the Coast slavetrade,

are said to have first set them in motion. The usual way in which they have advanced among the Manganja

has been by slavetrading in a friendly way. Then, professing to wish to live as subjects, they have been

welcomed as guests, and the Manganja, being great agriculturists, have been able to support considerable

bodies of these visitors for a time. When the provisions became scarce, the guests began to steal from the

fields; quarrels arose in consequence, and, the Ajawa having firearms, their hosts got the worst of it, and were

expelled from village after village, and out of their own country. The Manganja were quite as bad in regard to

slavetrading as the Ajawa, but had less enterprise, and were much more fond of the home pursuits of

spinning, weaving, smelting iron, and cultivating the soil, than of foreign travel. The Ajawa had little of a

mechanical turn, and not much love for agriculture, but were very keen traders and travellers. This party

seemed to us to be in the first or friendly stage of intercourse with Katosa; and, as we afterwards found, he

Our course was shaped towards the N.W., and we traversed a large fertile tract of rich soil extensively

cultivated, but dotted with many gigantic thorny acacias which had proved too large for the little axes of the

cultivators. After leaving Nkwinda, the first village we spent a night at in the district Ngabi was that of

Chembi, and it had a stockade around it. The Azitu or Mazitu were said to be ravaging the country to the west

of us, and no one was safe except in a stockade. We have so often, in travelling, heard of war in front, that we

paid little attention to the assertion of Chembi, that the whole country to the N.W. was in flight before these

Mazitu, under a chief with the rather formidable name of Mowhiriwhiri; we therefore resolved to go on to

Chinsamba's, still further in the same direction, and hear what he said about it.

The only instrument of husbandry here is the shorthandled hoe; and about Tette the labour of tilling the soil,

as represented in the woodcut, is performed entirely by female slaves. On the West Coast a doublehandled

hoe is employed. Here the small hoe is seen in the hands of both men and women. In other parts of Africa a

In illustration of the manner in which the native knowledge of agriculture strikes an honest intelligent

observer, it may be mentioned that the first time good Bishop Mackenzie beheld how well the fields of the

Manganja were cultivated on the hills, he remarked to Dr. Livingstone, then his fellowtraveller"When

telling the people in England what were my objects in going out to Africa, I stated that, among other things, I

meant to teach these people agriculture; but I now see that they know far more about it than I do." This, we

take it, was an honest straightforward testimony, and we believe that every unprejudiced witness, who has an

opportunity of forming an opinion of Africans who have never been debased by slavery, will rank them very

much higher in the scale of intelligence, industry, and manhood, than others who know them only in a state of

On coming near Chinsamba's two stockades, on the banks of the Lintipe, we were told that the Mazitu had

been repulsed there the day before, and we had evidence of the truth of the report of the attack in the sad sight

of the bodies of the slain. The Zulus had taken off large numbers of women laden with corn; and, when

driven back, had cut off the ears of a male prisoner, as a sort of credential that he had been with the Mazitu,

and with grim humour sent him to tell Chinsamba "to take good care of the corn in the stockades, for they

Chinsamba's people were drumming with might and main on our arrival, to express their joy at their

deliverance from the Mazitu. The drum is the chief instrument of music among the Manganja, and with it

they express both their joy and grief. They excel in beating time. Chinsamba called us into a very large hut,

and presented us with a huge basket of beer. The glare of sunlight from which we had come enabled him, in

diplomatic fashion, to have a good view of us before our eyes became enough accustomed to the dark inside

to see him. He has a Jewish cast of countenance, or rather the ancient Assyrian face, as seen in the

monuments brought to the British Museum by Mr. Layard. This form of face is very common in this country,

and leads to the belief that the true type of the negro is not that met on the West Coast, from which most

Chinsamba had many Abisa or Babisa in his stockade, and it was chiefly by the help of their muskets that he

We liked Chinsamba very well, and found that he was decidedly opposed to our risking our lives by going

further to the N.W. The Mazitu were believed to occupy all the hills in that direction, so we spent the 4th of

It is rather a minute thing to mention, and it will only be understood by those who have children of their own,

but the cries of the little ones, in their infant sorrows, are the same in tone, at different ages, here as all over

the world. We have been perpetually reminded of home and family by the wailings which were once familiar

to parental ears and heart, and felt thankful that to the sorrows of childhood our children would never have

Taking Chinsamba's advice to avoid the Mazitu in their marauding, we started on the 5th September away to

the N.E., and passed mile after mile of native cornfields, with an occasional cottonpatch.

After a long march, we passed over a waterless plain about N.N.W. of the hills of Tsenga to a village on the

Lake, and thence up its shores to Chitanda. The banks of the Lake were now crowded with fugitives, who had

collected there for the poor protection which the reeds afforded. For miles along the water's edge was one

continuous village of temporary huts. The people had brought a little corn with them; but they said, "What

shall we eat when that is done? When we plant corn, the wild beasts (Zinyama, as they call the Mazitu) come

and take it. When we plant cassava, they do the same. How are we to live?" A poor blind woman, thinking

we were Mazitu, rushed off in front of us with outspread arms, lifting the feet high, in the manner peculiar to

those who have lost their sight, and jumped into the reeds of a stream for safety.

In our way along the shores we crossed several running rivulets of clear cold water, which, from having reeds

at their confluences, had not been noticed in our previous exploration in the boat. One of these was called

Mokola, and another had a strong odour of sulphuretted hydrogen. We reached Molamba on the 8th

September, and found our old acquaintance, Nkomo, there still. One of the advantages of travelling along the

shores of the Lake was, that we could bathe anywhere in its clear fresh water. To us, who had been obliged so

often to restrain our inclination in the Zambesi and Shire for fear of crocodiles, this was pleasant beyond

measure. The water now was of the same temperature as it was on our former visit, or 72 degrees Fahr. The

immense depth of the Lake prevents the rays of the sun from raising the temperature as high as that of the

Shire and Zambesi; and the crocodiles, having always clear water in the Lake, and abundance of fish, rarely

A day's march beyond Molamba brought us to the lakelet Chia, which lies parallel with the Lake. It is three or

four miles long, by from one to one and a half broad, and communicates with the Lake by an arm of good

depth, but with some rocks in it. As we passed up between the Lake and the eastern shore of this lakelet, we

did not see any streams flowing into it. It is quite remarkable for the abundance of fish; and we saw upwards

of fifty large canoes engaged in the fishery, which is carried on by means of handnets with sideframe poles

about seven feet long. These nets are nearly identical with those now in use in Normandythe difference

being that the African net has a piece of stick lashed across the handleends of the side poles to keep them

steady, which is a great improvement. The fish must be very abundant to be scooped out of the water in such

quantities as we saw, and by so many canoes. There is quite a trade here in dried fish.

The country around is elevated, undulating, and very extensively planted with cassava. The hoe in use has a

handle of four feet in length, and the iron part is exactly of the same form as that in the country of the

Bechuanas. The baskets here, which are so closely woven together as to hold beer, are the same with those

Marching on foot is peculiarly conducive to meditationone is glad of any subject to occupy the mind, and

relieve the monotony of the weary treadmilllike trudgetrudging. This Chia net brought to our mind that the

smith's bellows made here of a goatskin bag, with sticks along the open ends, are the same as those in use in

the Bechuana country far to the southwest. These, with the longhandled hoe, may only show that each

successive horde from north to south took inventions with it from the same original source. Where that source

may have been is probably indicated by another pair of bellows, which we observed below the Victoria Falls,

Men in remote times may have had more highlydeveloped instincts, which enabled them to avoid or use

poisons; but the late Archbishop Whately has proved, that wholly untaught savages never could invent

anything, or even subsist at all. Abundant corroboration of his arguments is met with in this country, where

the natives require but little in the way of clothing, and have remarkably hardy stomachs. Although

possessing a knowledge of all the edible roots and fruits in the country, having hoes to dig with, and spears,

bows, and arrows to kill the game,we have seen that, notwithstanding all these appliances and means to

The art of making fire is the same in India as in Africa. The smelting furnaces, for reducing iron and copper

from the ores, are also similar. Yellow haematite, which bears not the smallest resemblance either in colour

or weight to the metal, is employed near Kolobeng for the production of iron. Malachite, the precious green

stone used in civilized life for vases, would never be suspected by the uninstructed to be a rich ore of copper,

and yet it is extensively smelted for rings and other ornaments in the heart of Africa. A copper bar of native

manufacture four feet long was offered to us for sale at Chinsamba's. These arts are monuments attesting the

fact, that some instruction from above must at some time or other have been supplied to mankind; and, as

Archbishop Whately says, "the most probable conclusion is, that man when first created, or very shortly

afterwards, was advanced, by the Creator Himself, to a state above that of a mere savage."

The argument for an original revelation to man, though quite independent of the Bible history, tends to

confirm that history. It is of the same nature with this, that man could not have MADE himself, and therefore

must have had a Divine CREATOR. Mankind could not, in the first instance, have CIVILIZED themselves,

In connection with this subject, it is remarkable that throughout successive generations no change has taken

place in the form of the various inventions. Hammers, tongs, hoes, axes, adzes, handles to them; needles,

bows and arrows, with the mode of feathering the latter; spears, for killing game, with spearheads having

what is termed "dish" on both sides to give them, when thrown, the rotatory motion of rifleballs; the arts of

spinning and weaving, with that of pounding and steeping the inner bark of a tree till it serves as clothing;

millstones for grinding corn into meal; the manufacture of the same kind of pots or chatties as in India; the art

of cooking, of brewing beer and straining it as was done in ancient Egypt; fish hooks, fishing and hunting

nets, fishbaskets, and weirs, the same as in the Highlands of Scotland; traps for catching animals, etc.,

etc.,have all been so very permanent from age to age, and some of them of identical patterns are so widely

spread over the globe, as to render it probable that they were all, at least in some degree, derived from one

Source. The African traditions, which seem possessed of the same unchangeability as the arts to which they

relate, like those of all other nations refer their origin to a superior Being. And it is much more reasonable to

receive the hints given in Genesis, concerning direct instruction from God to our first parents or their children

in religious or moral duty, and probably in the knowledge of the arts of life, {6} than to give credence to the

theory that untaught savage man subsisted in a state which would prove fatal to all his descendants, and that

in such helpless state he made many inventions which most of his progeny retained, but never improved upon

We crossed in canoes the arm of the Lake, which joins Chia to Nyassa, and spent the night on its northern

bank. The whole country adjacent to the Lake, from this point up to Kotakota Bay, is densely peopled by

thousands who have fled from the forays of the Mazitu in hopes of protection from the Arabs who live there.

In three running rivulets we saw the Shuare palm, and an oil palm which is much inferior to that on the West

Coast. Though somewhat similar in appearance, the fruit is not much larger than hazelnuts, and the people

The idea of using oil for light never seems to have entered the African mind. Here a bundle of split and dried

bamboo, tied together with creeping plants, as thick as a man's body, and about twenty feet in length, is

employed in the canoes as a torch to attract the fish at night. It would be considered a piece of the most

wasteful extravagance to burn the oil they obtain from the castoroil bean and other seeds, and also from

certain fish, or in fact to do anything with it but anoint their heads and bodies.

We arrived at Kotakota Bay in the afternoon of the 10th September, 1863; and sat down under a

magnificent wild figtree with leaves ten inches long, by five broad, about a quarter of a mile from the

village of Juma ben Saidi, and Yakobe ben Arame, whom we had met on the River Kaombe, a little north of

this, in our first exploration of the Lake. We had rested but a short time when Juma, who is evidently the

chief person here, followed by about fifty people, came to salute us and to invite us to take up our quarters in

his village. The hut which, by mistake, was offered, was so small and dirty, that we preferred sleeping in an

Juma afterwards apologized for the mistake, and presented us with rice, meal, sugarcane, and a piece of

malachite. We returned his visit on the following day, and found him engaged in building a dhow or Arab

vessel, to replace one which he said had been wrecked. This new one was fifty feet long, twelve feet broad,

and five feet deep. The planks were of a wood like teak, here called Timbati, and the timbers of a closer

grained wood called Msoro. The sight of this dhow gave us a hint which, had we previously received it,

would have prevented our attempting to carry a vessel of iron past the Cataracts. The trees around Katosa's

village were Timbati, and they would have yielded planks fifty feet long and thirty inches broad. With a few

native carpenters a good vessel could be built on the Lake nearly as quickly as one could be carried past the

Cataracts, and at a vastly less cost. Juma said that no money would induce him to part with this dhow. He was

very busy in transporting slaves across the Lake by means of two boats, which we saw returning from a trip

in the afternoon. As he did not know of our intention to visit him, we came upon several gangs of stout young

men slaves, each secured by the neck to one common chain, waiting for exportation, and several more in

slavesticks. These were all civilly removed before our interview was over, because Juma knew that we did

When we met the same Arabs in 1861, they had but few attendants: according to their own account, they had

now, in the village and adjacent country, 1500 souls. It is certain that tens of thousands had flocked to them

for protection, and all their power and influence must be attributed to the possession of guns and gunpowder.

This crowding of refugees to any point where there is a hope for security for life and property is very

common in this region, and the knowledge of it made our hopes beat high for the success of a peaceful

Mission on the shores of the Lake. The rate, however, in which the people here will perish by the next

famine, or be exported by Juma and others, will, we fear, depopulate those parts which we have just

described as crowded with people. Hunger will ere long compel them to sell each other. An intelligent man

complained to us of the Arabs often seizing slaves, to whom they took a fancy, without the formality of

purchase; but the price is so lowfrom two to four yards of calicothat one can scarcely think this seizure

and exportation without payment worth their while. The boats were in constant employment, and, curiously

enough, Ben Habib, whom we met at Linyanti in 1855, had been taken across the Lake, the day before our

arrival at this Bay, on his way from Sesheke to Kilwa, and we became acquainted with a native servant of the

Arabs, called Selele Saidallah, who could speak the Makololo language pretty fairly from having once spent

From boyhood upwards we have been accustomed, from time to time, to read in books of travels about the

great advances annually made by Mohammedanism in Africa. The rate at which this religion spreads was said

to be so rapid, that in after days, in our own pretty extensive travels, we have constantly been on the look out

for the advancing wave from North to South, which, it was prophesied, would soon reduce the entire

continent to the faith of the false prophet. The only foundation that we can discover for the assertions referred

to, and for others of more recent date, is the fact that in a remote corner of NorthWestern Africa the Fulahs,

and Mandingoes, and some others in Northern Africa, as mentioned by Dr. Barth, have made conquests of

territory; but even they care so very little for the extension of their faith, that after the conquest no pains

whatever are taken to indoctrinate the adults of the tribe. This is in exact accordance with the impression we

have received from our intercourse with Mohammedans and Christians. The followers of Christ alone are

anxious to propagate their faith. A quasi philanthropist would certainly never need to recommend the

followers of Islam, whom we have met, to restrain their benevolence by preaching that "Charity should begin

Though Selele and his companions were bound to their masters by domestic ties, the only new idea they had

imbibed from Mohammedanism was, that it would be wrong to eat meat killed by other people. They thought

it would be "unlucky." Just as the inhabitants of Kolobeng, before being taught the requirements of

Christianity, refrained from hoeing their gardens on Sundays, lest they should reap an unlucky crop. So far as

we could learn, no efforts had been made to convert the natives, though these two Arabs, and about a dozen

halfcastes, had been in the country for many years; and judging from our experience with a dozen

Mohammedans in our employ at high wages for sixteen months, the Africans would be the better men in

proportion as they retained their native faith. This may appear only a harsh judgment from a mind imbued

with Christian prejudices; but without any pretention to that impartiality, which leaves it doubtful to which

side the affections lean, the truth may be fairly stated by one who viewed all Mohammedans and Africans

Our twelve Mohammedans from Johanna were the least open of any of our party to impression from

kindness. A marked difference in general conduct was apparent. The Makololo, and other natives of the

country, whom we had with us, invariably shared with each other the food they had cooked, but the Johanna

men partook of their meals at a distance. This, at first, we attributed to their Moslem prejudices; but when

they saw the cooking process of the others nearly complete, they came, sat beside them, and ate the portion

offered without ever remembering to return the compliment when their own turn came to be generous. The

Makololo and the others grumbled at their greediness, yet always followed the common custom of Africans

of sharing their food with all who sit around them. What vexed us most in the Johanna men was their

indifference to the welfare of each other. Once, when they were all coming to the ship after sleeping ashore,

one of them walked into the water with the intention of swimming off to the boat, and while yet hardly up to

his knees was seized by a horrid crocodile and dragged under; the poor fellow gave a shriek, and held up his

hand for aid, but none of his countrymen stirred to his assistance, and he was never seen again. On asking his

brotherinlaw why he did not help him, he replied, "Well, no one told him to go into the water. It was his

own fault that he was killed." The Makololo on the other hand rescued a woman at Senna by entering the

It is not assumed that their religion had much to do in the matter. Many Mohammedans might contrast

favourably with indifferent Christians; but, so far as our experience in East Africa goes, the moral tone of the

follower of Mahomed is pitched at a lower key than that of the untutored African. The ancient zeal for

propagating the tenets of the Koran has evaporated, and been replaced by the most intense selfishness and

grossest sensuality. The only known efforts made by Mohammedans, namely, those in the NorthWest and

North of the continent, are so linked with the acquisition of power and plunder, as not to deserve the name of

religious propagandism; and the only religion that now makes proselytes is that of Jesus Christ. To those who

are capable of taking a comprehensive view of this subject, nothing can be adduced of more telling

significance than the well attested fact, that while the Mohammedans, Fulahs, and others towards Central

Africa, make a few proselytes by a process which gratifies their own covetousness, three small sections of the

Christian converts, the Africans in the South, in the West Indies, and on the West Coast of Africa actually

contribute for the support and spread of their religion upwards of 15,000 pounds annually. {7} That religion

Leaving Kotakota Bay, we turned away due West on the great slave route to Katanga's and Cazembe's

country in Londa. Juma lent us his servant, Selele, to lead us the first day's march. He said that the traders

from Kilwa and Iboe cross the Lake either at this bay, or at Tsenga, or at the southern end of the Lake; and

that wherever they may cross they all go by this path to the interior. They have slaves with them to carry their

goods, and when they reach a spot where they can easily buy others, they settle down and begin the traffic,

and at once cultivate grain. So much of the land lies waste, that no objection is ever made to any one taking

possession of as much as he needs; they can purchase a field of cassava for their present wants for very little,

and they continue trading in the country for two or three years, and giving what weight their muskets possess

The first day's march led us over a rich, wellcultivated plain. This was succeeded by highlands, undulating,

stony, and covered with scraggy trees. Many banks of well rounded shingle appear. The disintegration of the

rocks, now going on, does not round off the angles; they are split up by the heat and cold into angular

fragments. On these high downs we crossed the River Kaombe. Beyond it we came among the upland

vegetationrhododendrons, proteas, the masuko, and molompi. At the foot of the hill, Kasukosuko, we

found the River Bua running north to join the Kaombe. We had to go a mile out of our way for a ford; the

stream is deep enough in parts for hippopotami. The various streams not previously noticed, crossed in this

journey, had before this led us to the conclusion, independently of the testimony of the natives, that no large

river ran into the north end of the Lake. No such affluent was needed to account for the Shire's perennial

On September 15th we reached the top of the ascent which, from its many ups and downs, had often made us

puff and blow as if broken winded. The water of the streams we crossed was deliciously cold, and now that

we had gained the summit at Ndonda, where the boiling point of water showed an altitude of 3440 feet

above the sea, the air was delightful. Looking back we had a magnificent view of the Lake, but the haze

prevented our seeing beyond the sea horizon. The scene was beautiful, but it was impossible to dissociate the

lovely landscape whose hills and dales had so sorely tried our legs and lungs, from the sad fact that this was

part of the great slave route now actually in use. By this road many "Ten thousands" have here seen "the

Sea," "the Sea," but with sinking hearts; for the universal idea among the captive gangs is, that they are going

to be fattened and eaten by the whites. They cannot of course be so much shocked as we should betheir

sensibilities are far from fine, their feelings are more obtuse than oursin fact, "the live eels are used to

being skinned," perhaps they rather like it. We who are not philosophic, blessed the Providence which at

Thermopylae in ancient days rolled back the tide of Eastern conquest from the West, and so guided the course

of events that light and liberty and gospel truth spread to our distant isle, and emancipating our race freed

them from the fear of ever again having to climb fatiguing heights and descend wearisome hollows in a

slavegang, as we suppose they did when the fair English youths were exposed for sale at Rome.

Looking westwards we perceived that, what from below had the appearance of mountains, was only the edge

of a tableland which, though at first undulating, soon became smooth, and sloped towards the centre of the

country. To the south a prominent mountain called Chipata, and to the southwest another named Ngalla, by

which the Bua is said to rise, gave character to the landscape. In the north, masses of hills prevented our

The air which was so exhilarating to Europeans had an opposite effect on five men who had been born and

reared in the malaria of the Delta of the Zambesi. No sooner did they reach the edge of the plateau at Ndonda,

than they lay down prostrate, and complained of pains all over them. The temperature was not much lower

than that on the shores of the Lake below, 76 degrees being the mean temperature of the day, 52 degrees the

lowest, and 82 degrees the highest during the twentyfour hours; at the Lake it was about l0 degrees higher.

Of the symptoms they complained ofpains everywherenothing could be made. And yet it was evident

that they had good reason for saying that they were ill. They scarified almost every part of their bodies as a

remedial measure; medicines, administered on the supposition that their malady was the effect of a sudden

chill, had no effect, and in two days one of them actually died in consequence of, as far as we could judge, a

As we were on the slave route, we found the people more churlish than usual. On being expostulated with

about it, they replied, "We have been made wary by those who come to buy slaves." The calamity of death

having befallen our party, seemed, however, to awaken their sympathies. They pointed out their usual

buryingplace, lent us hoes, and helped to make the grave. When we offered to pay all expenses, they

showed that they had not done these friendly offices without fully appreciating their value; for they

enumerated the use of the hut, the mat on which the deceased had lain, the hoes, the labour, and the medicine

The primitive African faith seems to be that there is one Almighty Maker of heaven and earth; that he has

given the various plants of earth to man to be employed as mediators between him and the spirit world, where

all who have ever been born and died continue to live; that sin consists in offences against their fellowmen,

either here or among the departed, and that death is often a punishment of guilt, such as witchcraft. Their idea

of moral evil differs in no respect from ours, but they consider themselves amenable only to inferior beings,

not to the Supreme. Evilspeakinglyinghatred disobedience to parentsneglect of themare said

by the intelligent to have been all known to be sin, as well as theft, murder, or adultery, before they knew

aught of Europeans or their teaching. The only new addition to their moral code is, that it is wrong to have

more wives than one. This, until the arrival of Europeans, never entered into their minds even as a doubt.

Everything not to be accounted for by common causes, whether of good or evil, is ascribed to the Deity. Men

are inseparably connected with the spirits of the departed, and when one dies he is believed to have joined the

hosts of his ancestors. All the Africans we have met with are as firmly persuaded of their future existence as

of their present life. And we have found none in whom the belief in the Supreme Being was not rooted. He is

so invariably referred to as the Author of everything supernatural, that, unless one is ignorant of their

language, he cannot fail to notice this prominent feature of their faith. When they pass into the unseen world,

they do not seem to be possessed with the fear of punishment. The utensils placed upon the grave are all

broken as if to indicate that they will never be used by the departed again. The body is put into the grave in a

sitting posture, and the hands are folded in front. In some parts of the country there are tales which we could

translate into faint glimmerings of a resurrection; but whether these fables, handed down from age to age,

convey that meaning to the natives themselves we cannot tell. The true tradition of faith is asserted to be

"though a man die he will live again;" the false that when he dies he is dead for ever.

Important geographical discoveries in the Wabisa countriesCruelty of the slavetradeThe

In our course westwards, we at first passed over a gently undulating country, with a reddish clayey soil,

which, from the heavy crops, appeared to be very fertile. Many rivulets were crossed, some running

southwards into the Bua, and others northwards into the Loangwa, a river which we formerly saw flowing

into the Lake. Further on, the water was chiefly found in pools and wells. Then still further, in the same

direction, some watercourses were said to flow into that same "Loangwa of the Lake," and others into the

Loangwa, which flows to the southwest, and enters the Zambesi at Zumbo, and is here called the "Loangwa

of the Maravi." The trees were in general scraggy, and covered, exactly as they are in the damp climate of the

Coast, with lichens, resembling orchillaweed. The maize, which loves rather a damp soil, had been planted

on ridges to allow the superfluous moisture to run off. Everything indicated a very humid climate, and the

people warned us that, as the rains were near, we were likely to be prevented from returning by the country

Villages, as usual encircled by euphorbia hedges, were numerous, and a great deal of grain had been

cultivated around them. Domestic fowls, in plenty, and pigeons with dovecots like those in Egypt were seen.

The people call themselves Matumboka, but the only difference between them and the rest of the Manganja is

in the mode of tattooing the face. Their language is the same. Their distinctive mark consists of four tattooed

lines diverging from the point between the eyebrows, which, in frowning, the muscles form into a furrow.

The other lines of tattooing, as in all Manganja, run in long seams, which crossing each other at certain angles

form a great number of triangular spaces on the breast, back, arms, and thighs. The cuticle is divided by a

knife, and the edges of the incision are drawn apart till the true skin appears. By a repetition of this process,

lines of raised cicatrices are formed, which are thought to give beauty, no matter how much pain the fashion

It would not be worth while to advert for a moment to the routine of travelling, or the little difficulties that

beset every one who attempts to penetrate into a new country, were it not to show the great source of the

power here possessed by slavetraders. We needed help in carrying our goods, while our men were ill,

though still able to march. When we had settled with others for hire, we were often told, that the dealers in

men had taken possession of some, and had taken them away altogether. Other things led us to believe that

the slavetraders carry matters with a high hand; and no wonder, for the possession of gunpowder gives them

almost absolute power. The mode by which tribes armed with bows and arrows carry on warfare, or defend

themselves, is by ambuscade. They never come out in open fight, but wait for the enemy ensconced behind

trees, or in the long grass of the country, and shoot at him unawares. Consequently, if men come against them

with firearms, when, as is usually the case, the long grass is all burned off, the tribe attacked are as helpless as

a wooden ship, possessing only signal guns, would be before an ironclad steamer. The time of year selected

for this kind of warfare is nearly always that in which the grass is actually burnt off, or is so dry as readily to

take fire. The dry grass in Africa looks more like ripe English wheat late in the autumn, than anything else we

can compare it to. Let us imagine an English village standing in a field of this sort, bounded only by the

horizon, and enemies setting fire to a line of a mile or two, by running along with bunches of burning straw in

their hands, touching here and there the inflammable material,the wind blowing towards the doomed

villagethe inhabitants with only one or two old muskets, but ten to one no powder,the long line of

flames, leaping thirty feet into the air with dense masses of black smokeand pieces of charred grass falling

down in showers. Would not the stoutest English villager, armed only with the bow and arrow against the

enemy's musket, quail at the idea of breaking through that wall of fire? When at a distance, we once saw a

scene like this, and had the charred grass, literally as thick as flakes of black snow, falling around us, there

On the 21st of September, we arrived at the village of the chief Muasi, or Muazi; it is surrounded by a

stockade, and embowered in very tall euphorbiatrees; their height, thirty or forty feet, shows that it has been

inhabited for at least one generation. A visitation of disease or death causes the headmen to change the site of

their villages, and plant new hedges; but, though Muazi has suffered from the attacks of the Mazitu, he has

evidently clung to his birthplace. The village is situated about two miles southwest of a high hill called

Kasungu, which gives the name to a district extending to the Loangwa of the Maravi. Several other detached

granite hills have been shot up on the plain, and many stockaded villages, all owing allegiance to Muazi, are

On our arrival, the chief was sitting in the smooth shady place, called Boalo, where all public business is

transacted, with about two hundred men and boys around him. We paid our guides with due ostentation.

Masiko, the tallest of our party, measured off the fathom of cloth agreed upon, and made it appear as long as

possible, by facing round to the crowd, and cutting a few inches beyond what his outstretched arms could

reach, to show that there was no deception. This was by way of advertisement. The people are mightily

gratified at having a tall fellow to measure the cloth for them. It pleases them even better than cutting it by a

tapeline though very few men of six feet high can measure off their own length with their outstretched

arms. Here, where Arab traders have been, the cubit called mokono, or elbow, begins to take the place of the

fathom in use further south. The measure is taken from the point of the bent elbow to the end of the middle

We found, on visiting Muazi on the following day, that he was as frank and straightforward as could

reasonably be expected. He did not wish us to go to the N.N.W., because he carries on a considerable trade in

ivory there. We were anxious to get off the slave route, to people not visited before by traders; but Muazi

naturally feared, that if we went to what is said to be a wellwatered country, abounding in elephants, we

might relieve him of the ivory which he now obtains at a cheap rate, and sells to the slavetraders as they

pass Kasungu to the east; but at last he consented, warning us that "great difficulty would be experienced in

obtaining fooda district had been depopulated by slave warsand a night or two must be spent in it; but

he would give us good guides, who would go three days with us, before turning, and then further progress

must depend on ourselves." Some of our men having been ill ever since we mounted this highland plain, we

A herd of fine cattle showed that no tsetse existed in the district. They had the Indian hump, and were very

fat, and very tame. The boys rode on both cows and bulls without fear, and the animals were so fat and lazy,

that the old ones only made a feeble attempt to kick their young tormentors. Muazi never milks the cows; he

complained that, but for the Mazitu having formerly captured some, he should now have had very many.

After leaving Muazi's, we passed over a flat country sparsely covered with the scraggy upland trees, but

brightened with many fine flowers. The grass was short, reaching no higher than the knee, and growing in

tufts with bare spaces between, though the trees were draped with many various lichens, and showed a moist

climate. A high and very sharp wind blew over the flats; its piercing keenness was not caused by low

We were now on the sources of the Loangwa of the Maravi, which enters the Zambesi at Zumbo, and were

struck by the great resemblance which the boggy and sedgy streams here presented to the sources of the

Leeba, an affluent of the Zambesi formerly observed in Londa, and of the Kasai, which some believe to be

We had taken pains to ascertain from the travelled Babisa and Arabs as much as possible about the country in

front, which, from the lessening time we had at our disposal, we feared we could scarcely reach, and had

heard a good deal of a small lake called Bemba. As we proceeded west, we passed over the sources not only

of the Loangwa, but of another stream, called Moitawa or Moitala, which was represented to be the main

feeder of Lake Bemba. This would be of little importance, but for the fact that the considerable river Luapula,

or Loapula is said to flow out of Bemba to the westward, and then to spread out into another and much larger

lake, named Moero, or Moelo. Flowing still further in the same direction, the Loapula forms Lake Mofue, or

Mofu, and after this it is said to pass the town of Cazembe, bend to the north, and enter Lake Tanganyika.

Whither the water went after it entered the last lake, no one would venture an assertion. But that the course

indicated is the true watershed of that part of the country, we believe from the unvarying opinion of native

travellers. There could be no doubt that our informants had been in the country beyond Cazembe's, for they

knew and described chiefs whom we afterwards met about thirtyfive or forty miles west of his town. The

Lualaba is said to flow into the Loapulaand when, for the sake of testing the accuracy of the travelled, it

was asserted that all the water of the region round the town of Cazembe flowed into the Luambadzi, or

Luambezi (Zambesi), they remarked with a smile, "He says, that the Loapula flows into the Zambesidid

you ever hear such nonsense?" or words to that effect. We were forced to admit, that according to native

accounts, our previous impression of the Zambesi's draining the country about Cazembe's had been a mistake.

Their geographical opinions are now only stated, without any further comment than that the itinerary given

by the Arabs and others shows that the Loapula is twice crossed on the way to Cazembe's; and we may add

that we have never found any difficulty from the alleged incapacity of the negro to tell which way a river

The boilingpoint of water showed a descent, from the edge of the plateau to our furthest point west, of 170

feet; but this can only be considered as an approximation, and no dependence could have been placed on it,

had we not had the courses of the streams to confirm this rather rough mode of ascertaining altitudes. The

slope, as shown by the watershed, was to the "Loangwa of the Maravi," and towards the Moitala, or

southwest, west, and northwest. After we leave the feeders of Lake Nyassa, the water drains towards the

centre of the continent. The course of the Kasai, a river seen during Dr. Livingstone's journey to the West

Coast, and its feeders was to the northeast, or somewhat in the same direction. Whether the water thus

drained off finds its way out by the Congo, or by the Nile, has not yet been ascertained. Some parts of the

continent have been said to resemble an inverted dinnerplate. This portion seems more of the shape, if shape

it has, of a wideawake hat, with the crown a little depressed. The altitude of the brim in some parts is

considerable; in others, as at Tette and the bottom of Murchison's Cataracts, it is so small that it could be

ascertained only by eliminating the daily variations of the barometer, by simultaneous observations on the

Coast, and at points some two or three hundred miles inland. So long as African rivers remain in what we

may call the brim, they present no obstructions; but no sooner do they emerge from the higher lands than

their utility is impaired by cataracts. The low lying belt is very irregular. At times sloping up in the manner of

the rim of an inverted dinnerplatewhile in other cases, a high ridge rises near the sea, to be succeeded by

a lower district inland before we reach the central plateau. The breadth of the low lands is sometimes as much

as three hundred miles, and that breadth determines the limits of navigation from the seaward.

We made three long marches beyond Muazi's in a northwesterly direction; the people were civil enough, but

refused to sell us any food. We were travelling too fast, they said; in fact, they were startled, and before they

recovered their surprise, we were obliged to depart. We suspected that Muazi had sent them orders to refuse

us food, that we might thus be prevented from going into the depopulated district; but this may have been

We spent one night at Machambwe's village, and another at Chimbuzi's. It is seldom that we can find the

headman on first entering a village. He gets out of the way till he has heard all about the strangers, or he is

actually out in the fields looking after his farms. We once thought that when the headman came in from a

visit of inspection, with his spear, bow and arrows, they had been all taken up for the occasion, and that he

had all the while been hidden in some hut slily watching till he heard that the strangers might be trusted; but

on listening to the details given by these men of the appearances of the crops at different parts, and the

astonishing minuteness of the speakers' topography, we were persuaded that in some cases we were wrong,

and felt rather humiliated. Every knoll, hill, mountain, and every peak on a range has a name; and so has

every watercourse, dell, and plain. In fact, every feature and portion of the country is so minutely

distinguished by appropriate names, that it would take a lifetime to decipher their meaning. It is not the want,

but the superabundance of names that misleads travellers, and the terms used are so multifarious that good

scholars will at times scarcely know more than the subject of conversation. Though it is a little apart from the

topic of the attention which the headmen pay to agriculture, yet it may be here mentioned, while speaking of

the fulness of the language, that we have heard about a score of words to indicate different varieties of

gaitone walks leaning forward, or backward, swaying from side to side, loungingly, or smartly,

swaggeringly, swinging the arms, or only one arm, head down or up, or otherwise; each of these modes of

walking was expressed by a particular verb; and more words were used to designate the different varieties of

Mr. Moffat has translated the whole Bible into the language of the Bechuana, and has diligently studied this

tongue for the last forty fouryears; and, though knowing far more of the language than any of the natives

who have been reared on the Missionstation of Kuruman, he does not pretend to have mastered it fully even

yet. However copious it may be in terms of which we do not feel the necessity, it is poor in others, as in

Our third day's march ended in the afternoon of the 27th September, 1863, at the village of Chinanga on the

banks of a branch of the Loangwa. A large, rounded mass of granite, a thousand feet high, called Nombe

rume, stand on the plain a few miles off. It is quite remarkable, because it has so little vegetation on it.

Several other granitic hills stand near it, ornamented with trees, like most heights of this country, and a heap

The effect of the piercing winds upon the men had never been got rid of. Several had been unable to carry a

load ever since we ascended to the highlands; we had lost one, and another poor lad was so ill as to cause us

great anxiety. By waiting in this village, which was so old that it was full of vermin, all became worse. Our

European food was entirely expended, and native meal, though finely ground, has so many sharp angular

particles in it, that it brought back dysentery, from which we had suffered so much in May. We could

scarcely obtain food for the men. The headman of this village of Chinanga was off in a foray against some

people further north to supply slaves to the traders expected along the slave route we had just left; and was

said, after having expelled the inhabitants, to be living in their stockade, and devouring their corn. The

conquered tribe had purchased what was called a peace by presenting the conqueror with three women.

This state of matters afforded us but a poor prospect of finding more provisions in that direction than we

could with great difficulty and at enormous prices obtain here. But neither want of food, dysentery, nor slave

wars would have prevented our working our way round the Lake in some other direction, had we had time;

but we had received orders from the Foreign Office to take the "Pioneer" down to the sea in the previous

April. The salaries of all the men in her were positively "in any case to cease by the 31st of December."

We were said to be only ten days' distant from Lake Bemba. We might speculate on a late rise of the river. A

month or six weeks would secure a geographical feat, but the rains were near. We had been warned by

different people that the rains were close at hand, and that we should then be bogged and unable to travel.

The flood in the river might be an early one, or so small in volume as to give but one chance of the "Pioneer"

descending to the ocean. The Makololo too were becoming dispirited by sickness and want of food, and were

naturally anxious to be back to their fields in time for sowing. But in addition to all this and more, it was felt

that it would not be dealing honestly with the Government, were we, for the sake of a little eclat, to risk the

detention of the "Pioneer" up the river during another year; so we decided to return; and though we had

afterwards the mortification to find that we were detained two full months at the ship waiting for the flood

which we expected immediately after our arrival there, the chagrin was lessened by a consciousness of having

On the night of the 29th of September a thief came to the sleeping place of our men and stole a leg of a goat.

On complaining to the deputy headman, he said that the thief had fled, but would be caught. He suggested a

fine, and offered a fowl and her eggs; but wishing that the thief alone should be punished, it was advised that

HE should be found and fined. The Makololo thought it best to take the fowl as a means of making the

punishment certain. After settling this matter on the last day of September, we commenced our return

journey. We had just the same time to go back to the ship, that we had spent in coming to this point, and there

While on our journey northwest, a cheery old woman, who had once been beautiful, but whose white hair

now contrasted strongly with her dark complexion, was working briskly in her garden as we passed. She

seemed to enjoy a hale, hearty old age. She saluted us with what elsewhere would be called a good address;

and, evidently conscious that she deserved the epithet, "dark but comely," answered each of us with a frank

"Yes, my child." Another motherlylooking woman, sitting by a well, began the conversation by "You are

going to visit Muazi, and you have come from afar, have you not?" But in general women never speak to

strangers unless spoken to, so anything said by them attracts attention. Muazi once presented us with a basket

of corn. On hinting that we had no wife to grind our corn, his buxom spouse struck in with roguish glee, and

said, "I will grind it for you; and leave Muazi, to accompany and cook for you in the land of the setting sun."

As a rule the women are modest and retiring in their demeanour, and, without being oppressed with toil, show

a great deal of industry. The crops need about eight months' attention. Then when the harvest is home, much

labour is required to convert it into food as porridge, or beer. The corn is pounded in a large wooden mortar,

like the ancient Egyptian one, with a pestle six feet long and about four inches thick. The pounding is

performed by two or even three women at one mortar. Each, before delivering a blow with her pestle, gives

an upward jerk of the body, so as to put strength into the stroke, and they keep exact time, so that two pestles

are never in the mortar at the same moment. The measured thud, thud, thud, and the women standing at their

vigorous work, are associations inseparable from a prosperous African village. By the operation of pounding,

with the aid of a little water, the hard outside scale or husk of the grain is removed, and the corn is made fit

for the millstone. The meal irritates the stomach unless cleared from the husk; without considerable energy in

the operator, the husk sticks fast to the corn. Solomon thought that still more vigour than is required to

separate the hard husk or bran from wheat would fail to separate "a fool from his folly." "Though thou

shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, YET will not his foolishness depart from him."

The rainbow, in some parts, is called the "pestle of the Barimo," or gods. Boys and girls, by constant practice

with the pestle, are able to plant stakes in the ground by a somewhat similar action, in erecting a hut, so deftly

Let any one try by repeatedly jobbing a pole with all his force to make a deep hole in the ground, and he will

As we were sleeping one night outside a hut, but near enough to hear what was going on within, an anxious

mother began to grind her corn about two o'clock in the morning. "Ma," inquired a little girl, "why grind in

the dark?" Mamma advised sleep, and administered material for a sweet dream to her darling, by saying, "I

grind meal to buy a cloth from the strangers, which will make you look a little lady." An observer of these

primitive races is struck continually with such little trivial touches of genuine human nature.

The mill consists of a block of granite, syenite, or even mica schist, fifteen or eighteen inches square and five

or six thick, with a piece of quartz or other hard rock about the size of a half brick, one side of which has a

convex surface, and fits into a concave hollow in the larger and stationary stone. The workwoman kneeling,

grasps this upper millstone with both hands, and works it backwards and forwards in the hollow of the lower

millstone, in the same way that a baker works his dough, when pressing it and pushing from him. The weight

of the person is brought to bear on the movable stone, and while it is pressed and pushed forwards and

backwards, one hand supplies every now and then a little grain to be thus at first bruised and then ground on

the lower stone, which is placed on the slope so that the meal when ground falls on to a skin or mat spread for

the purpose. This is perhaps the most primitive form of mill, and anterior to that in oriental countries, where

two women grind at one mill, and may have been that used by Sarah of old when she entertained the Angels.

On 2nd October we applied to Muazi for guides to take us straight down to Chinsamba's at Mosapo, and thus

cut off an angle, which we should otherwise make, by going back to Kotakota Bay. He replied that his

people knew the short way to Chinsamba's that we desired to go, but that they all were afraid to venture there,

on account of the Zulus, or Mazitu. We therefore started back on our old route, and, after three hours' march,

We meet with these keen traders everywhere. They are easily known by a line of horizontal cicatrices, each

half an inch long, down the middle of the forehead and chin. They often wear the hair collected in a mass on

the upper and back part of the head, while it is all shaven off the forehead and temples. The Babisa and

Waiau or Ajawa heads have more of the round bulletshape than those of the Manganja, indicating a marked

difference in character; the former people being great traders and travellers, the latter being attached to home

and agriculture. The Manganja usually intrust their ivory to the Babisa to be sold at the Coast, and complain

that the returns made never come up to the high prices which they hear so much about before it is sent. In

fact, by the time the Babisa return, the expenses of the journey, in which they often spend a month or two at a

Our new companions were trading in tobacco, and had collected quantities of the round balls, about the size

of nine pounder shot, into which it is formed. One of them owned a woman, whose child had been sold that

morning for tobacco. The mother followed him, weeping silently, for hours along the way we went; she

seemed to be well known, for at several hamlets, the women spoke to her with evident sympathy; we could

do nothing to alleviate her sorrowthe child would be kept until some slavetrader passed, and then sold for

calico. The different cases of slavetrading observed by us are mentioned, in order to give a fair idea of its

We spent the first night, after leaving the slave route, at the village of Nkoma, among a section of Manganja,

The next village at which we slept was also that of a Manganja smith. It was a beautiful spot, shaded with tall

euphorbiatrees. The people at first fled, but after a short time returned, and ordered us off to a stockade of

Babisa, about a mile distant. We preferred to remain in the smooth shady spot outside the hamlet, to being

pent up in a treeless stockade. Twenty or thirty men came dropping in, all fully armed with bows and arrows,

some of them were at least six feet four in height, yet these giants were not ashamed to say, "We thought that

you were Mazitu, and, being afraid, ran away." Their orders to us were evidently inspired by terror, and so

must the refusal of the headman to receive a cloth, or lend us a hut have been; but as we never had the

opportunity of realizing what feelings a successful invasion would produce, we did not know whether to

blame them or not. The headman, a tall old smith, with an enormous, wellmade knife of his own

workmanship, came quietly round, and, inspecting the shelter, which, from there being abundance of long

grass and bushes near, our men put up for us in half an hour, gradually changed his tactics, and, in the

evening, presented us with a huge pot of porridge and a deliciously wellcooked fowl, and made an apology

for having been so rude to strangers, and a lamentation that he had been so foolish as to refuse the fine cloth

we had offered. Another cloth was of course presented, and we had the pleasure of parting good friends next

Our guide, who belonged to the stockade near to which we had slept, declined to risk himself further than his

home. While waiting to hire another, Masiko attempted to purchase a goat, and had nearly concluded the

bargain, when the wife of the wouldbe seller came forward, and said to her husband, "You appear as if you

were unmarried; selling a goat without consulting your wife; what an insult to a woman! What sort of man

are you?" Masiko urged the man, saying, "Let us conclude the bargain, and never mind her;" but he being

better instructed, replied, "No, I have raised a host against myself already," and refused.

We now pushed on to the east, so as to get down to the shores of the Lake, and into the parts where we were

known. The country was beautiful, well wooded, and undulating, but the villages were all deserted; and the

flight of the people seemed to have been quite recent, for the grain was standing in the cornsafes untouched.

The tobacco, though ripe, remained uncut in the gardens, and the whole country was painfully quiet: the

oppressive stillness quite unbroken by the singing of birds, or the shrill calls of women watching their corn.

On passing a beautiful village, called Bangwe, surrounded by shady trees, and placed in a valley among

mountains, we were admiring the beauty of the situation, when some of the much dreaded Mazitu, with their

shields, ran out of the hamlet, from which we were a mile distant. They began to scream to their companions

to give us chase. Without quickening our pace we walked on, and soon were in a wood, through which the

footpath we were following led. The first intimation we had of the approaching Mazitu was given by the

Johanna man, Zachariah, who always lagged behind, running up, screaming as if for his life. The bundles

were all put in one place to be defended; and Masiko and Dr. Livingstone walked a few paces back to meet

the coming foe. Masiko knelt down anxious to fire, but was ordered not to do so. For a second or two dusky

forms appeared among the trees, and the Mazitu were asked, in their own tongue, "What do you want?"

Masiko adding, "What do you say?" No answer was given, but the dark shade in the forest vanished. They

had evidently taken us for natives, and the sight of a white man was sufficient to put them to flight. Had we

been nearer the Coast, where the people are accustomed to the slavetrade, we should have found this affair a

more difficult one to deal with; but, as a rule, the people of the interior are much more mild in character than

The above very small adventure was all the danger we were aware of in this journey; but a report was spread

from the Portuguese villages on the Zambesi, similar to several rumours that had been raised before, that Dr.

Livingstone had been murdered by the Makololo; and very unfortunately the report reached England before it

One benefit arose from the Mazitu adventure. Zachariah, and others who had too often to be reproved for

lagging behind, now took their places in the front rank; and we had no difficulty in making very long marches

for several days, for all believed that the Mazitu would follow our footsteps, and attack us while we slept.

A party of Babisa tobaccotraders came from the N.W. to Molamba, while we were there; and one of them

asserted several times that the Loapula, after emerging from Moelo, received the Lulua, and then flowed into

Lake Mofu, and thence into Tanganyika; and from the last named Lake into the sea. This is the native idea

of the geography of the interior; and, to test the general knowledge of our informant, we asked him about our

acquaintances in Londa; as Moene, Katema, Shinde or Shinte, who live southwest of the rivers mentioned,

and found that our friends there were perfectly wellknown to him and to others of these travelled natives. In

the evening two of the Babisa came in, and reported that the Mazitu had followed us to the village called

Chigaragara, at which we slept at the bottom of the descent. The whole party of traders set off at once, though

the sun had set. We ourselves had given rise to the report, for the women of Chigaragara, supposing us in the

distance to be Mazitu, fled, with all their household utensils on their heads, and had no opportunity

afterwards of finding out their mistake. We spent the night where we were, and next morning, declining

Nkomo's entreaty to go and kill elephants, took our course along the shores of the Lake southwards.

We have only been at the Lake at one season of the year: then the wind blows strongly from the east, and

indeed this is its prevailing direction hence to the Orange River; a north or a south wind is rare, and seldom

lasts more than three days. As the breeze now blew over a large body of water, towards us, it was delightful;

but when facing it on the tableland it was so strong as materially to impede our progress, and added

considerably to the labour of travelling. Here it brought large quantities of the plant (Vallisneriae), from

which the natives extract salt by burning, and which, if chewed, at once shows its saline properties by the

taste. Clouds of the kungo, or edible midges, floated on the Lake, and many rested on the bushes on land.

The reeds along the shores of the Lake were still crowded with fugitives, and a great loss of life must since

have taken place; for, after the corn they had brought with them was expended, famine would ensue. Even

now we passed many women and children digging up the roots, about the size of peas, of an aromatic grass;

and their wasted forms showed that this poor hard fare was to allay, if possible, the pangs of hunger. The

babies at the breast crowed to us as we passed, their mothers kneeling and grubbing for the roots; the poor

little things still drawing nourishment from the natural fountain were unconscious of that sinking of heart

which their parents must have felt in knowing that the supply for the little ones must soon fail. No one would

sell a bit of food to us: fishermen, even, would not part with the produce of their nets, except in exchange for

some other kind of food. Numbers of newlymade graves showed that many had already perished, and

hundreds were so emaciated that they had the appearance of human skeletons swathed in brown and wrinkled

leather. In passing mile after mile, marked with these sad proofs that "man's inhumanity to man makes

countless thousands mourn," one experiences an overpowering sense of helplessness to alleviate human woe,

and breathes a silent prayer to the Almighty to hasten the good time coming when "man and man the world

o'er, shall brothers be for all that." One small redeeming consideration in all this misery could not but be felt;

these ills were inflicted by heathen Mazitu, and not by, or for, those who say to Him who is higher than the

We crossed the Mokole, rested at Chitanda, and then left the Lake, and struck away N.W. to Chinsamba's.

Our companions, who were so much oppressed by the rarefied air of the plateau, still showed signs of

exhaustion, though now only 1300 feet above the sea, and did not recover flesh and spirits till we again

entered the Lower Shire Valley, which is of so small an altitude, that, without simultaneous observations with

the barometer there and on the seacoast, the difference would not be appreciable.

On a large plain on which we spent one night, we had the company of eighty tobacco traders on their way

from Kasungu to Chinsamba's. The Mazitu had attacked and killed two of them, near the spot where the

Zulus fled from us without answering our questions. The traders were now so frightened that, instead of

making a straight course with us, they set off by night to follow the shores of the Lake to Tsenga, and then

turn west. It is the sight of shields, or guns that inspires terror. The bowmen feel perfectly helpless when the

enemy comes with even the small protection the skin shield affords, or attacks them in the open field with

guns. They may shoot a few arrows, but they are such poor shots that ten to one if they hit. The only thing

that makes the arrow formidable is the poison; for if the poisoned barb goes in nothing can save the wounded.

A bow is in use in the lower end of Lake Nyassa, but is more common in the Maravi country, from six to

eight inches broad, which is intended to be used as a shield as well as a bow; but we never saw one with the

mark on it of an enemy's arrow. It certainly is no match for the Zulu shield, which is between four and five

feet long, of an oval shape, and about two feet broad. So great is the terror this shield inspires that we

sometimes doubted whether the Mazitu here were Zulus at all, and suspected that the people of the country

took advantage of that fear, and, assuming shields, pretended to belong to that nation.

On the 11th October we arrived at the stockade of Chinsamba in Mosapo, and had reason to be very well

satisfied with his kindness. A paraffin candle was in his eyes the height of luxury, and the ability to make a

light instantaneously by a lucifer match, a marvel that struck him with wonder. He brought all his relatives in

different groups to see the strange sights,instantaneous fire making, and a light, without the annoyance of

having fire and smoke in the middle of the floor. When they wish to look for anything in the dark, a wisp of

Chinsamba gave us a great deal of his company during our visits. As we have often remarked in other cases, a

chief has a great deal to attend to in guiding the affairs of his people. He is consulted on all occasions, and

gives his advice in a stream of words, which show a very intimate acquaintance with the topography of his

district; he knows every rood cultivated, every weir put in the river, every huntingnet, loom, gorge, and

every child of his tribe. Any addition made to the number of these latter is notified to him; and he sends

The presents which, following the custom of the country, we gave to every headman, where we either spent a

night or a longer period, varied from four to eight yards of calico. We had some Manchester cloths made in

imitation of the native manufactured robes of the West Coast, each worth five or six shillings. To the more

important of the chiefs, for calico we substituted one of these strong gaudy dresses, iron spoons, a knife,

needles, a tin dish, or pannikin, and found these presents to be valued more than three times their value in

cloth would have been. Eight or ten shillings' worth gave abundant satisfaction to the greediest; but this is to

be understood as the prime cost of the articles, and a trader would sometimes have estimated similar

generosity as equal to from 30 to 50 pounds. In some cases the presents we gave exceeded the value of what

was received in return; in others the excess of generosity was on the native side.

We never asked for leave to pass through the country; we simply told where we were going, and asked for

guides; if they were refused, or if they demanded payment beforehand, we requested to be put into the

beginning of the path, and said that we were sorry we could not agree about the guides, and usually they and

we started together. Greater care would be required on entering the Mazitu or Zulu country, for there the

Government extends over very large districts, while among the Manganja each little district is independent of

every other. The people here have not adopted the exacting system of the Banyai, or of the people whose

In our way back from Chinsamba's to Chembi's and from his village to Nkwinda's, and thence to Katosa's, we

only saw the people working in their gardens, near to the stockades. These strongholds were strengthened

with branches of acacias, covered with strong hooked thorns; and were all crowded with people. The air was

now clearer than when we went north, and we could see the hills of Kirk's Range five or six miles to the west

of our path. The sun struck very hot, and the men felt it most in their feet. Every one who could get a bit of

While sitting at Nkwinda's, a man behind the court hedgewall said, with great apparent glee, that an Arab

slaving party on the other side of the confluence of the Shire and Lake were "giving readily two fathoms of

calico for a boy, and two and a half for a girl; never saw trade so brisk, no haggling at all." This party was

purchasing for the supply of the ocean slavetrade. One of the evils of this traffic is that it profits by every

calamity that happens in a country. The slavetrader naturally reaps advantage from every disorder, and

though in the present case some lives may have been saved that otherwise would have perished, as a rule he

intensifies hatreds, and aggravates wars between the tribes, because the more they fight and vanquish each

other the richer his harvest becomes. Where slaving and cattle are unknown the people live in peace. As we

sat leaning against that hedge, and listened to the harangue of the slavetrader's agent, it glanced across our

mind that this was a terrible world; the best in it unable, from conscious imperfections, to say to the worst

"Stand by! for I am holier than thou." The slavetrader, imbued no doubt with certain kindly feelings, yet

pursuing a calling which makes him a fair specimen of a human fiend, stands grouped with those by whom

the slavetraders are employed, and with all the workers of sin and misery in more highlyfavoured lands, an

We arrived at Katosa's village on the 15th October, and found about thirty young men and boys in

slavesticks. They had been bought by other agents of the Arab slavers, still on the east side of the Shire.

They were resting in the village, and their owners soon removed them. The weight of the goree seemed very

annoying when they tried to sleep. This taming instrument is kept on, until the party has crossed several

On explaining to Katosa the injury he was doing in selling his people as slaves, he assured us that those

whom we had seen belonged to the Arabs, and added that he had far too few people already. He said he had

been living in peace at the lakelet Pamalombe; that the Ajawa, or Machinga, under Kainka and Karamba, and

a body of Babisa, under Maonga, had induced him to ferry them over the Shire; that they had lived for a

considerable time at his expense, and at last stole his sheep, which induced him to make his escape to the

place where he now dwelt, and in this flight he had lost many of his people. His account of the usual conduct

of the Ajawa quite agrees with what these people have narrated themselves, and gives but a low idea of their

moral tone. They have repeatedly broken all the laws of hospitality by living for months on the bounty of the

Manganja, and then, by a sudden uprising, overcoming their hosts, and killing or chasing them out of their

inheritances. The secret of their success is the possession of firearms. There were several of these Ajawa here

again, and on our arrival they proposed to Katosa that they should leave; but he replied that they need not be

afraid of us. They had red beads strung so thickly on their hair that at a little distance they appeared to have

on red caps. It is curious that the taste for red hair should be so general among the Africans here and further

north; in the south black mica, called Sebilo, and even soot are used to deepen the colour of the hair; here

many smear the head with redochre, others plait the inner bark of a tree stained red into it; and a red powder

called Mukuru is employed, which some say is obtained from the ground, and others from the roots of a tree.

It having been doubted whether sugarcane is indigenous to this country or not, we employed Katosa to

procure the two varieties commonly cultivated, with the intention of conveying them to Johanna. One is

yellow, and the other, like what we observed in the Barotse Valley, is variegated with dark red and yellow

patches, or all red. We have seen it "arrow," or blossom. Bamboos also run to seed, and the people are said to

use the seed as food. The sugarcane has native names, which would lead us to believe it to be indigenous.

Here it is called Zimbi, further south Mesari, and in the centre of the country Meshuati. Anything introduced

in recent times, as maize, superior cotton, or cassava, has a name implying its foreign origin.

Katosa's village was embowered among gigantic trees of fine timber: several caffiaceous bushes, with berries

closely resembling those of the common coffee, grew near, but no use had ever been made of them. There are

several cinchonaceous trees also in the country; and some of the wild fruits are so good as to cause a feeling

of regret that they have not been improved by cultivation, or whatever else brought ours to their present

perfection. Katosa lamented that this locality was so inferior to his former place at Pamalombe; there he had

maize at the different stages of growth throughout the year. To us, however, he seemed, by digging holes, and

taking advantage of the moisture beneath, to have succeeded pretty well in raising crops at this the driest

time. The Makololo remarked that "here the maize had no season,"meaning that the whole year was proper

for its growth and ripening. By irrigation a succession of crops of grain might be raised anywhere within the

When we were with Motunda, on the 20th October, he told us frankly that all the native provisions were

hidden in Kirk's Range, and his village being the last place where a supply of grain could be purchased before

we reached the ship, we waited till he had sent to his hidden stores. The upland country, beyond the

mountains now on our right, is called Deza, and is inhabited by Maravi, who are only another tribe of

Manganja. The paramount chief is called Kabambe, and he, having never been visited by war, lives in peace

and plenty. Goats and sheep thrive; and Nyango, the chieftainess further to the south, has herds of horned

cattle. The country being elevated is said to be cold, and there are large grassy plains on it which are destitute

of trees. The Maravi are reported to be brave, and good marksmen with the bow; but, throughout all the

country we have traversed, guns are enabling the trading tribes to overcome the agricultural and

On the ascent at the end of the valley just opposite Mount Mvai, we looked back for a moment to impress the

beauties of the grand vale on our memory. The heat of the sun was now excessive, and Masiko, thinking that

it was overpowering, proposed to send forward to the ship and get a hammock, in which to carry any one who

might knock up. He was truly kind and considerate. Dr. Livingstone having fallen asleep after a fatiguing

march, a hole in the roof of the hut he was in allowed the sun to beat on his head, and caused a splitting

headache and deafness: while he was nearly insensible, he felt Masiko repeatedly lift him back to the bed off

On the 24th we were again in Banda, at the village of Chasundu, and could now see clearly the hot valley in

which the Shire flows, and the mountains of the Manganja beyond to our southeast. Instead of following the

road by which we had come, we resolved to go south along the Lesungwe, which rises at Zunje, a peak on the

same ridge as Mvai, and a part of Kirk's Range, which bounds the country of the Maravi on our west. This is

about the limit of the beat of the Portuguese native traders, and it is but recently that, following our footsteps,

they have come so far. It is not likely that their enterprise will lead them further north, for Chasundu informed

us that the Babisa undersell the agents from Tette. He had tried to deal with the latter when they first came;

but they offered only ten fathoms of calico for a tusk, for which the Babisa gave him twenty fathoms and a

little powder. Ivory was brought to us for sale again and again, and, as far as we could judge, the price

expected would be about one yard of calico per pound, or possibly more, for there is no scale of prices

known. The rule seems to be that buyer and seller shall spend a good deal of time in trying to cheat each other

We found the Lesungwe a fine stream near its source, and about forty feet wide and kneedeep, when joined

Guineafowl abounded, but no grain could be purchased, for the people had cultivated only the holmes along

the banks with maize and pumpkins. Time enough had not elapsed since the slavetrader's invasion, and

destruction of their stores, for them to raise crops of grain on the adjacent lands. To deal with them for a few

heads of maize was the hungry bargaining with the famished, so we hastened on southwards as fast as the

excessive heat would allow us. It was impossible to march in the middle of the day, the heat was so

intolerable; and we could not go on at night, because, if we had chanced to meet any of the inhabitants, we

We had now thunder every afternoon; but while occasional showers seemed to fall at different parts, none fell

on us. The air was deliciously clear, and revealed all the landscape covered everywhere with forest, and

bounded by beautiful mountains. On the 31st October we reached the MukuruMadse, after having travelled

660 geographical miles, or 760 English miles in a straight line. This was accomplished in fiftyfive travelling

days, twelve miles per diem on an average. If the numerous bendings and windings, and ups and downs of the

paths could have been measured too, the distance would have been found at least fifteen miles a day.

The night we slept at the MukuruMadse it thundered heavily, but, as this had been the case every afternoon,

and no rain had followed, we erected no shelter, but during this night a pouring rain came on. When very

tired a man feels determined to sleep in spite of everything, and the sound of dropping water is said to be

conducive to slumber, but that does not refer to an African storm. If, when half asleep in spite of a heavy

shower on the back of the head, he unconsciously turns on his side, the drops from the branches make such

We were off next morning, the 1st of November, as soon as the day dawned. In walking about seven miles to

the ship, our clothes were thoroughly dried by the hot sun, and an attack of fever followed. We relate this

little incident to point out the almost certain consequence of getting wet in this climate, and allowing the

clothes to dry on the person. Even if we walk in the mornings when the dew is on the grass, and only get our

feet and legs wet, a very uneasy feeling and partial fever with pains in the limbs ensue, and continue till the

march onwards bathes them in perspiration. Had Bishop Mackenzie been aware of this, which, before

experience alone had taught us, entailed many a severe lesson, we know no earthly reason why his valuable

life might not have been spared. The difference between getting the clothes soaked in England and in Africa

is this: in the cold climate the patient is compelled, or, at any rate, warned, by discomfort to resort at once to a

change of raiment; while in Africa it is cooling and rather pleasant to allow the clothes to dry on the person.

A Missionary in proportion as he possesses an athletic frame, hardened by manly exercises, in addition to his

other qualifications, will excel him who is not favoured with such bodily endowments; but in a hot climate

efficiency mainly depends on husbanding the resources. He must never forget that, in the tropics, he is an

Confidence of nativesBishop TozerWithdrawal of the Mission party The English leaveHazardous

We were delighted and thankful to find all those left at the ship in good health, and that from the

employments in which they had been occupied they had suffered less from fever than usual during our

absence. My companion, Thomas Ward, the steward, after having performed his part in the march right

An Ajawa chief, named Kapeni, had so much confidence in the English name that he, with most of his

people, visited the ship; and asserted that nothing would give his countrymen greater pleasure than to receive

the associates of Bishop Mackenzie as their teachers. This declaration, coupled with the subsequent conduct

of the Ajawa, was very gratifying, inasmuch as it was clear that no umbrage had been taken at the check

which the Bishop had given to their slaving; their consciences had told them that the course he had pursued

When we returned, the contrast between the vegetation about Muazi's and that near the ship was very

striking. We had come so quickly down, that while on the plateau in latitude 12 degrees S., the young leaves

had in many cases passed from the pink or other colour they have on first coming out to the light fresh green

which succeeds it, here, on the borders of 16 degrees S., or from 150 to 180 miles distant, the trees were still

bare, the grey colour of the bark predominating over every other hue. The trees in the tropics here have a very

wellmarked annual rest. On the Rovuma even, which is only about ten degrees from the equator, in

September the slopes up from the river some sixty miles inland were of a light ashygrey colour; and on

ascending them, we found that the majority of the trees were without leaves; those of the bamboo even lay

crisp and crumpled on the ground. As the sun is usually hot by day, even in the winter, this withering process

may be owing to the cool nights; Africa differing so much from Central India in the fact that, in Africa,

however hot the day may be, the air generally cools down sufficiently by the early morning watches to render

The first fortnight after our return to the ship was employed in the delightful process of resting, to appreciate

which a man must have gone through great exertions. In our case the muscles of the limbs were as hard as

boards, and not an ounce of fat existed on any part of the body. We now had frequent showers; but, these

being only the earlier rains, the result on the rise of the river was but a few inches. The effect of these rains on

the surrounding scenery was beautiful in the extreme. All trace of the dry season was soon obliterated, and

hills and mountains from base to summit were covered with a mantle of living green. The sun passed us on

his way south without causing a flood, so all our hopes of a release were centred on his return towards the

Equator, when, as a rule, the waters of inundation are made to flow. Up to this time the rains descended

simply to water the earth, fill the pools, and make ready for the grand overflow for which we had still to wait

six weeks. It is of no use to conceal that we waited with much chagrin; for had we not been forced to return

from the highlands west of Nyassa we might have visited Lake Bemba; but unavailing regrets are poor

About the middle of December, 1863, we were informed that Bishop Mackenzie's successor, after spending a

few months on the top of a mountain about as high as Ben Nevis in Scotland, at the mouth of the Shire, where

there were few or no people to be taught, had determined to leave the country. This unfortunate decision was

communicated to us at the same time that six of the boys reared by Bishop Mackenzie were sent back into

heathenism. The boys were taken to a place about seven miles from the ship, but immediately found their

way up to us. We told them that if they wished to remain in the country they had better so arrange at once, for

As soon as the death of Bishop Mackenzie was known at the Cape, Dr. Gray, the excellent Bishop there,

proceeded at once to England, with a view of securing an early appointment of another head to the Mission,

which in its origin owed so much to his zeal for the spread of the gospel among the heathen, and whose

interests he had continually at heart. About the middle of 1862 we heard that Dr. Gray's efforts had been

successful, and that another clergyman would soon take the place of our departed friend. This pleasing

intelligence was exceedingly cheering to the Missionaries, and gratifying also to the members of the

Expedition. About the beginning of 1863 the new Bishop arrived at the mouth of the river in a manofwar,

and after some delay proceeded inland. The Bishop of the Cape had taken a voyage home at considerable

inconvenience to himself, for the sole object of promoting this Mission to the heathen; and it was somehow

expected that the man he would secure would be an image of himself; and we must say, that whatever others,

from the representations that have gone abroad, may think of his character, we invariably found Dr. Gray to

be a true, warmhearted promoter of the welfare of his fellowmen; a man whose courage and zeal have

It was hoped that the presence of a new head to the Mission would infuse new energy and life into the small

band of Missionaries, whose ranks had been thinned by death; and who, though discouraged by the disasters

which the slave war and famine had induced, and also dispirited by the depressing influences of a low and

unhealthy position in the swampy Shire Valley, were yet bravely holding out till the muchneeded moral and

We believe that we are uttering the sentiments of many devout members of different sections of Christians,

when we say, it was a pity that the Mission of the Universities was abandoned. The ground had been

consecrated in the truest sense by the lives of those brave men who first occupied it. In bare justice to Bishop

Mackenzie, who was the first to fall, it must be said, that the repudiation of all he had done, and the sudden

abandonment of all that had cost so much life and money to secure, was a serious line of conduct for one so

unversed in Missionary operations as his successor, to inaugurate. It would have been no more than fair that

Bishop Tozer, before winding up the affairs of the Mission, should actually have examined the highlands of

the Upper Shire; he would thus have gratified the associates of his predecessor, who believed that the

highlands had never had a fair trial, and he would have gained from personal observation a more accurate

knowledge of the country and the people than he could possibly have become possessed of by information

gathered chiefly on the coast. With this examination, rather than with a stay of a few months on the humid,

In January, 1864, the natives all confidently asserted that at next full moon the river would have its great and

permanent flood. It had several times risen as much as a foot, but fell again as suddenly. It was curious that

their observation coincided exactly with ours, that the flood of inundation happens when the sun comes

overhead on his way back to the Equator. We mention this more minutely because, from the observation of

several years, we believe that in this way the inundation of the Nile is to be explained. On the 19th the Shire

suddenly rose several feet, and we started at once; and stopping only for a short time at Chibisa's to bid adieu

to the Ajawa and Makololo, who had been extremely useful to us of late in supplying maize and fresh

provisions, we hastened on our way to the ocean. In order to keep a steerage way on the "Pioneer," we had to

go quicker than the stream, and unfortunately carried away her rudder in passing suddenly round a bank. The

delay required for the repairs prevented our reaching Morambala till the 2nd of February.

The floodwater ran into a marsh some miles above the mountain, and became as black as ink; and when it

returned again to the river emitted so strong an effluvium of sulphuretted hydrogen, that one could not forget

for an instant that the air was most offensive. The natives said this stench did not produce disease. We spent

one night in it, and suffered no ill effects, though we fully expected an attack of fever. Next morning every

particle of white paint on both ships was so deeply blackened, that it could not be cleaned by scrubbing with

soap and water. The brass was all turned to a bronze colour, and even the iron and ropes had taken a new tint.

This is an additional proof that malaria and offensive effluvia are not always companions. We did not suffer

more from fever in the mangrove swamps, where we inhaled so much of the heavy mousey smell that it was

We tarried in the foul and blackening emanations from the marsh because we had agreed to receive on board

about thirty poor orphan boys and girls, and a few helpless widows whom Bishop Mackenzie had attached to

his Mission. All who were able to support themselves had been encouraged by the Missionaries to do so by

cultivating the ground, and they now formed a little free community. But the boys and girls who were only

from seven to twelve years of age, and orphans without any one to help them, could not be abandoned

without bringing odium on the English name. The effect of an outcry by some persons in England, who knew

nothing of the circumstances in which Bishop Mackenzie was placed, and who certainly had not given up

their own right of appeal to the sword of the magistrate, was, that the new head of the Mission had gone to

extremes in the opposite direction from his predecessor; not even protesting against the one monstrous evil of

the country, the slavetrade. We believed that we ought to leave the English name in the same good repute

among the natives that we had found it; and in removing the poor creatures, who had lived with Mackenzie as

children with a father, to a land where the education he began would be completed, we had the aid and

sympathy of the best of the Portuguese, and of the whole population. The difference between shipping slaves

and receiving these free orphans struck us as they came on board. As soon as permission to embark was

given, the rush into the boat nearly swamped hertheir eagerness to be safe on the "Pioneer's" deck had to

Bishop Tozer had already left for Quillimane when we took these people and the last of the Universities'

Missionaries on board and proceeded to the Zambesi. It was in high flood. We have always spoken of this

river as if at its lowest, for fear lest we should convey an exaggerated impression of its capabilities for

navigation. Instead of from five to fifteen feet, it was now from fifteen to thirty feet, or more, deep. All the

sandbanks and many of the islands had disappeared, and before us rolled a river capable, as one of our naval

friends thought, of carrying a gunboat. Some of the sandy islands are annually swept away, and the quantities

The process by which a delta, extending eighty or one hundred miles from the sea, has been formed may be

seen going on at the present daythe coarser particles of sand are driven out into the ocean, just in the same

way as we see they are over banks in the beds of torrents. The finer portions are caught by the returning tide,

and, accumulating by successive ebbs and flows, become, with the decaying vegetation, arrested by the

mangrove roots. The influence of the tide in bringing back the finer particles gives the sea near the mouth of

the Zambesi a clean and sandy bottom. This process has been going on for ages, and as the delta has enlarged

eastwards, the river has always kept a channel for itself behind. Wherever we see an island all sand, or with

only one layer of mud in it, we know it is one of recent formation, and that it may be swept away at any time

by a flood; while those islands which are all of mud are the more ancient, having in fact existed ever since the

time when the ebbing and flowing tides originally formed them as parts of the delta. This mud resists the

action of the river wonderfully. It is a kind of clay on which the eroding power of water has little effect. Were

maps made, showing which banks and which islands are liable to erosion, it would go far to settle where the

annual change of the channel would take place; and, were a few stakes driven in year by year to guide the

water in its course, the river might be made of considerable commercial value in the hands of any energetic

European nation. No canal or railway would ever be thought of for this part of Africa. A few improvements

would make the Zambesi a ready means of transit for all the trade that, with a population thinned by

Portuguese slaving, will ever be developed in our day. Here there is no instance on record of the natives

flocking in thousands to the colony, as they did at Natal, and even to the Arabs on Lake Nyassa. This keeping

aloof renders it unlikely that in Portuguese hands the Zambesi will ever be of any more value to the world

After a hurried visit to Senna, in order to settle with Major Sicard and Senhor Ferrao for supplies we had

drawn thence after the depopulation of the Shire, we proceeded down to the Zambesi's mouth, and were

fortunate in meeting, on the 13th February, with H.M.S. "Orestes." She was joined next day by H.M.S.

"Ariel." The "Orestes" took the "Pioneer," and the "Ariel" the "Lady Nyassa" in tow, for Mosambique. On the

16th a circular storm proved the seagoing qualities of the "Lady of the Lake;" for on this day a hurricane

struck the "Ariel," and drove her nearly backwards at a rate of six knots. The towing hawser wound round her

screw and stopped her engines. No sooner had she recovered from this shock than she was again taken aback

on the other tack, and driven stem on towards the "Lady Nyassa's" broadside. We who were on board the

little vessel saw no chance of escape unless the crew of the "Ariel" should think of heaving ropes when the

big ship went over us; but she glided past our bow, and we breathed freely again. We had now an opportunity

of witnessing manofwar seamanship. Captain Chapman, though his engines were disabled, did not think of

abandoning us in the heavy gale, but crossed the bows of the "Lady Nyassa" again and again, dropping a cask

with a line by which to give us another hawser. We might never have picked it up, had not a Krooman

jumped overboard and fastened a second line to the cask; and then we drew the hawser on board, and were

again in tow. During the whole time of the hurricane the little vessel behaved admirably, and never shipped a

single green sea. When the "Ariel" pitched forwards we could see a large part of her bottom, and when her

stern went down we could see all her deck. A boat, hung at her stern davits, was stove in by the waves. The

officers on board the "Ariel" thought that it was all over with us: we imagined that they were suffering more

than we were. Nautical men may suppose that this was a serious storm only to landsmen; but the "Orestes,"

which was once in sight, and at another time forty miles off during the same gale, split eighteen sails; and the

"Pioneer" had to be lightened of parts of a sugarmill she was carrying; her round house was washed away,

and the cabin was frequently kneedeep in water. When the "Orestes" came into Mosambique harbour nine

days after our arrival there, our vessel, not being anchored close to the "Ariel," for we had run in under the

lee of the fort, led to the surmise on board the "Orestes" that we had gone to the bottom. Captain Chapman

and his officers pronounced the "Lady Nyassa" to be the finest little seaboat they had ever seen. She

certainly was a contrast to the "MaRobert," and did great credit to her builders, Ted and Macgregor of

Glasgow. We can but regret that she was not employed on the Lake after which she was named, and for

What struck us most, during the trip from the Zambesi to Mosambique, was the admirable way in which

Captain Chapman handled the "Ariel" in the heavy sea of the hurricane; the promptitude and skill with which,

when we had broken three hawsers, others were passed to us by the rapid evolutions of a big ship round a

little one; and the ready appliance of means shown in cutting the hawser off the screw nine feet under water

with long chisels made for the occasion; a task which it took three days to accomplish. Captain Chapman

very kindly invited us on board the "Ariel," and we accepted his hospitality after the weather had moderated.

The little vessel was hauled through and against the huge seas with such force that two hawsers measuring

eleven inches each in circumference parted. Many of the blows we received from the billows made every

plate quiver from stem to stern, and the motion was so quick that we had to hold on continually to avoid

being tossed from one side to the other or into the sea. Ten of the late Bishop's flock whom we had on board

became so sick and helpless that do what we could to aid them they were so very much in the way that the

idea broke in upon us, that the close packing resorted to by slavers is one of the necessities of the traffic. If

this is so, it would account for the fact that even when the trade was legal the same injurious custom was

common, if not universal. If, instead of ten such passengers, we had been carrying two hundred, with the

wind driving the rain and spray, as by night it did, nearly as hard as hail against our faces, and nothing

whatever to be seen to windward but the occasional gleam of the crest of a wave, and no sound heard save the

whistling of the storm through the rigging, it would have been absolutely necessary for the working of the

ship and safety of the whole that the live cargo should all have been stowed down below, whatever might

Having delivered the "Pioneer" over to the Navy, she was towed down to the Cape by Captain Forsyth of the

"Valorous," and after examination it was declared that with repairs to the amount of 300 pounds she would be

as serviceable as ever. Those of the Bishop's flock whom we had on board were kindly allowed a passage to

the Cape. The boys went in the "Orestes," and we are glad of the opportunity to record our heartfelt thanks to

Captains Forsyth, Gardner, and Chapman for rendering us, at various times, every aid in their power. Mr.

Waller went in the "Pioneer," and continued his generous services to all connected with the Mission, whether

white or black, till they were no longer needed; and we must say that his conduct to them throughout was

After beaching the "Lady Nyassa" at Caboceira, opposite the house of a Portuguese gentleman well known to

all Englishmen, Joao da Costa Soares, we put in brine cocks, and cleaned and painted her bottom. Mr. Soares

appeared to us to have been very much vilified in a publication in England a few years ago; our experience

proved him to be extremely kind and obliging. All the members of the Expedition who passed Mosambique

were unanimous in extolling his generosity and, from the general testimony of English visitors in his favour,

we very much regret that his character was so grievously misrepresented. To the authorities at Mosambique

our thanks are also due for obliging accommodation; and though we differ entirely from the Portuguese

officials as to the light in which we regard the slavetrade, we trust our exposure of the system, in which

unfortunately they are engaged, will not be understood as indicating any want of kindly feeling and good will

to them personally. Senhor Canto e Castro, who arrived at Mosambique two days after our departure to take

the office of GovernorGeneral, was well known to us in Angola. We lived two months in his house when he

was Commandant of Golungo Alto; and, knowing him thoroughly, believe that no better man could have

been selected for the office. We trust that his good principles may enable him to withstand the temptations of

his position; but we should be sorry to have ours tried in a den of slavetraders with the miserable pittance he

While at Mosambique, a species of Pedalia called by Mr. Soares Dadeleira, and by the nativesfrom its

resemblance to Gerzilin, or sesamum"wild sesamum," was shown to us, and is said to be well known

among native nurses as a very gentle and tasteless aperient for children. A few leaves of it are stirred in a cup

of cold water for eight or nine seconds, and a couple of teaspoonfuls of the liquid given as a dose. The leaves

form a sort of mucilage in the water by longer stirring, which is said to have diuretic properties besides.

On the 16th April we steamed out from Mosambique; and, the currents being in our favour, in a week reached

Zanzibar. Here we experienced much hospitality from our countrymen, and especially from Dr. Seward, then

Dr. Seward was very doubtful if we could reach Bombay before what is called the break of the monsoon took

place. This break occurs usually between the end of May and the 12th of June. The wind still blows from

Africa to India, but with so much violence, and with such a murky atmosphere, that few or no observations

for position can be taken. We were, however, at the time very anxious to dispose of the "Lady Nyassa," and,

the only market we could reach being Bombay, we resolved to run the risk of getting there before the stormy

period commenced; and, after taking fourteen tons of coal on board, we started on the 30th April from

Our complement consisted of seven native Zambesians, two boys, and four Europeans; namely, one stoker,

one sailor, one carpenter, whose names have been already mentioned, and Dr. Livingstone, as navigator. The

"Lady Nyassa" had shown herself to be a good seaboat. The natives had proved themselves capital sailors,

though before volunteering not one of them had ever seen the sea. They were not picked men, but, on paying

a dozen whom we had in our employment for fifteen months, they were taken at random from several

hundreds who offered to accompany us. Their wages were ten shillings per mensem, and it was curious to

observe, that so eager were they to do their duty, that only one of them lay down from seasickness during

the whole voyage. They took in and set sail very cleverly in a short time, and would climb out along a boom,

reeve a rope through the block, and come back with the rope in their teeth, though at each lurch the performer

was dipped in the sea. The sailor and carpenter, though anxious to do their utmost, had a week's severe illness

It is pleasant enough to take the wheel for an hour or two, or even for a watch, but when it comes to be for

every alternate four hours, it is utterly wearisome. We set our black men to steer, showing them which arm of

the compass needle was to be kept towards the vessel's head, and soon three of them could manage very well,

and they only needed watching. In going up the East Coast to take advantage of the current of one hundred

miles a day, we would fain have gone into the Juba or Webbe River, the mouth of which is only 15 minutes

south of the line, but we were too shorthanded. We passed up to about ten degrees north of the Equator, and

then steamed out from the coast. Here Maury's wind chart showed that the calmbelt had long been passed,

but we were in it still; and, instead of a current carrying us north, we had a contrary current which bore us

every day four miles to the south. We steamed as long as we dared, knowing as we did that we must use the

After losing many days tossing on the silent sea, with innumerable dolphins, flyingfish, and sharks around

us, we had six days of strong breezes, then calms again tried our patience; and the near approach of that

period, "the break of the monsoon," in which it was believed no boat could live, made us sometimes think our

epitaph would be "Left Zanzibar on 30th April, 1864, and never more heard of." At last, in the beginning of

June, the chronometers showed that we were near the Indian coast. The black men believed it was true

because we told them it was so, but only began to dance with joy when they saw seaweed and serpents

floating past. These serpents are peculiar to these parts, and are mentioned as poisonous in the sailing

directions. We ventured to predict that we should see land next morning, and at midday the high coast hove in

sight, wonderfully like Africa before the rains begin. Then a haze covered all the land, and a heavy swell beat

towards it. A rock was seen, and a latitude showed it to be the Choule rock. Making that a fresh

startingpoint, we soon found the lightship, and then the forest of masts loomed through the haze in

{1} A remedy composed of from six to eight grains of resin of jalap, the same of rhubarb, and three each of

calomel and quinine, made up into four pills, with tincture of cardamoms, usually relieved all the symptoms

in five or six hours. Four pills are a full dose for a man one will suffice for a woman. They received from

our men the name of "rousers," from their efficacy in rousing up even those most prostrated. When their

operation is delayed, a dessertspoonful of Epsom salts should be given. Quinine after or during the

operation of the pills, in large doses every two or three hours, until deafness or cinchonism ensued, completed

the cure. The only cases in which, we found ourselves completely helpless, were those in which obstinate

{3} In 1865, four years after these forebodings were penned, we received intelligence that they had all come

to pass. Sekeletu died in the beginning of 1864a civil war broke out about the succession to the

chieftainship; a large body of those opposed to the late chief's uncle, Impololo, being regent, departed with

their cattle to Lake Ngami; an insurrection by the black tribes followed; Impololo was slain, and the

kingdom, of which, under an able sagacious mission, a vast deal might have been made, has suffered the

usual fate of African conquests. That fate we deeply deplore; for, whatever other faults the Makololo might

justly be charged with, they did not belong to the class who buy and sell each other, and the tribes who have

{4} It was with sorrow that we learned by a letter from Mr. Moffat, in 1864, that poor Sekeletu was dead. As

will be mentioned further on, men were sent with us to bring up more medicine. They preferred to remain on

the Shire, and, as they were free men, we could do no more than try and persuade them to hasten back to their

chief with iodine and other remedies. They took the parcel, but there being only two real Makololo among

them, these could neither return themselves alone or force their attendants to leave a part of the country where

they were independent, and could support themselves with ease. Sekeletu, however, lived long enough to

receive and acknowledge goods to the value of 50 pounds, sent, in lieu of those which remained in Tette, by

{5} A brother, we believe, of one who accompanied Burke and Willis in the famous but unfortunate

{6} Genesis, chap. iii., verses 21 and 23, "make coats of skins, and clothed them""sent him forth from the

garden of Eden to till the ground" imply teaching. Vide Archbishop Whately's "History of Religious

{7} "In 1854 the native church at SierraLeone undertook to pay for their primary schools, and thereby

effected a saving to the Church Missionary Society of 800 pounds per annum. In 1861 the contributions of

this one section of native Christians had amounted to upwards of 10,000 pounds.""Manual of Church