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; we had never heard before of tin
being found in the country.

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 spend
with our convoy.

We now saw many good-looking 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 waist-belt 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 a wiser and a sadder man.

Sinamane's people cultivate large quantities of tobacco, which they
manufacture into balls for the Makololo market. Twenty balls, weighing
about three-quarters of a pound each, are sold for a hoe. The tobacco is
planted on low moist spots on the banks of the Zambesi; and was in flower
at the time we were there, in October. Sinamane's people 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