138 INHOSPITALITY OF THE MANGANJA. CHAP. V. woman, and two for a boy or girl, to be taken to the Portuguese at Mozambique, Iboe, and Quillimane. Another channel of supply, fed by victims from all classes, but chiefly from the common people, is frequently opened, when one portion of a tribe, urged on by the greed of gain, begins to steal and sell their fellow-clansmen. The evil does. not stop here. A feud is the consequence. The weaker part of the tribe is driven away, and, wandering about, becomes so thoroughly demoralized as to live by marauding and selling their captives, and even each other, without compunction. This was precisely the state of the portion of the Ajawa we first fell in with. 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 CHAP. V. APOLOGY OF THE CHIEF. 139 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 to-night, and had some of themselves to carry the bundles for us to-morrow." On our return by a path which left this 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 that we were sent away; his men did not know that we were a party wishing the land to dwell in peace. 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 sight-seers. We appear to them to be red rather than white; and, though light color 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 vigor 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 140 THE TRADE OF CAZEMBE. CHAP. V. them, by precept and example, the great truths of our holy religion. 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 slave-traders 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. Ac 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. cording to information collected by Colonel Rigby at Zanzibar, and from other sources, nearly all the slaves shipped from the above-mentioned 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 shore-line of at least 600 miles, the slave-trade 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 slave-traders 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 ex CHAP. V. PLAN FOR CHECKING SLAVE-TRADE. 141 actions; 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 farther. It is only by cutting off the supplies in the interior that we can crush the slave-trade on the Coast. The plan proposed would stop the slave-trade 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. Water-carriage exists by the Shire and Zambesi all the way to England, with the single exception of a portage of about thirty-five 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 unlawful traffic. 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 slave-trade, than half a dozen men-of-war on the ocean. By judicious operations, therefore, on a small scale inland, little expense would be incurred, and the English slave-trade policy on the East would have the same fair chance of success as on the West Coast. 142 RETURN TO THE SHIP. CHAP. VI. CHAPTER VI. Return to the Vessel.-Nearly Poisoned by the Juice of Cassava.-"Cassereep," or Cassava Sap, a perfect Preservative of Meat.-Dr. Kirk takes the direct Route from Chibisa's to Tette.-Great Suffering on the Journey.Magnetical Observations by Charles Livingstone.-Shire Biscuit.—Wheaten Flour necessary for European Stomachs.-Season for sowing Wheat.-Off to Kongone.-Two Miles of Elephants.-Our generous friend Senhor Ferrão.-Kongone.-Beach the Vessel for Repairs.-Arrival of H.M.S. Lynx. -Loss of the Mail.-Leave for Tette Dec. 16th.-Governor at Shupanga.His Opinions and ours.-Confessions of an old Slave-dealer.-Paul Mariano. -Arrival at Tette, Feb. 2d, 1860.-Fabulous Silver Mine of Chicova.-Exactions of the Banyai submitted to by the Portuguese.—Sumptuary Laws.— Portuguese of Tette.-Wine or Climate?-Funerals.-Weddings.-Coal and Gold.-Defer our Departure for the Interior.-Down again to Kongone.— Up the Stream on the 15th of March.-—Secret Canal used for Slaving.Governor of Quillimane sent to discover Kongone.-Mr. Sunley's attempt to begin lawful Trade at River Angoxe.-Major Sicard at Mazaro.-Change of Names.-Its Advantages.-The "Asthmatic" very ill indeed.—Mr. Rae goes Home on Duty.-The Kwakwa River.-"Comical Creatures."-Mice. -Hope for fat Folk, or Cockroaches as aids to Banting.-Zulus come to lift their Rents at Senna.-Striped Senna Pigs and Fever.-Fever-plant.— Reach Tette on the 25th of April.-Want of Irrigation.-One Branch of Tette Industry. AFTER a land-journey 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 mullagatawny 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 |