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 sleeping-place
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