C H A P T E R X X Y I I
Clearings in forests “ -Resemblance of hunters to ancient Egyptian figures —
Muazi — Difficulty about guides — Babisa undertake to lead us to Chin-
samba’s —1 Babisá and Manganja heads — Different characteristics—Dialects
different though «.kin —- Nkoma — The Bua — We are taken for Mazitu, and
treated accordingly—Intractable headman—Well-broken-in husband — Oppressive
stillness of the deserted Country — Bangwé Meet the Mááitu —
Show a bold front with success — Zachariah mends his pace—;We are taken
for a war party — Oct. 8th, we reach Molamba on Lake Nyassa — The unpaid
guide and his doings — Polygamy — Loapula and Tanganyika — Babisa’s
knowledge of interior tested — False alarm of Mazitu — Prevailing direction
of wind easterly — Shores of the Lake — Fugitives and their distress —
Tobacco-traders attacked by Mazitu — Guns versus bows — Mosapo — Chin-
samba’s — Minute information of Chief — Africans not so degraded as described—
Presents — Guides — Brisk slave-trading —^Sad thoughts — 15th
Oct., Katosa’s— His description of the conduct of the Ajawa — Their admiration
of red hair — Sugar-cane probably indigenous — Bamboos — Katosa is
invested in an officer’s coat and epaulets — His present village and his former
one — 20th Oct., we arrive at Motunda’s — Hidden stores of provisions —
Kabambe and Nyango — The Goa or Gova v a lle y T h e Lesungwe — Kindness
of native women — 31st Oct., we reach the Mukuru-Madse — Thunder
and rain—Wet clothes and fever.
We passed several clearings, each a mile or more square, in
which all the trees had been cut down, and the stumps left
only two or three feet high. The felled wood was gathered
into heaps, about fifty yards long, by thirty broad, and when
dry was burned. The ashes were spread on these cleared
spots, and a species of millet called Maere was raised, of
which the natives seemed very fond, though to our stomachs
the meal was as indigestible as so much coarse sand. On
one side of these cleared spaces the hunters set large strong
nets made of baobab bark, into which they drive the game.
We saw about a dozen hartebeests which were small in size,
* and a few zebras on these uplands. We were struck with
the resemblance the men carrying their hunting-nets bore to
figures in ancient Egyptian tombs, but the proportion of these
hunters to the population was very smalL The Africans
here, as a rule, are of the agricultural class, and, when they
have a prospect of reaping their grain in peace, must enjoy
a pretty comfortable life.
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
Kota-kota 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, found some Babisa in a village,
who promised to lead us to Chinsamba.
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 c h in 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 bullet-shape 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 Bahisa 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
place where food abounds, usually eat up all the profits.
The Babisa have a different dialect from the Manganja,
but all readily converse together. In passing among the
different tribes, it is only necessary to know one dialect well,
and then interpreters are easily found. Masiko, one of the
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