abandonment of the Magomero
mission.

Moaning seems a favourite way of spending the time with some sick
folk. For the sake of the warmth, I allowed a Nassick boy to sleep in
my house; he and I had the same complaint, dysentery, and I was
certainly worse than he, but did not moan, while he played at it as
often as he was awake. I told him that people moaned only when too ill
to be sensible of what they were doing; the groaning ceased, though
he became worse.

Three sepoys played at groaning very vigorously outside my door; they
had nothing the matter with them, except perhaps fatigue, which we all
felt alike; as these fellows prevented my sleeping, I told them quite
civilly that, if so ill that they required to groan, they had better
move off a little way, as I could not sleep; they preferred the
verandah, and at once forbore.

The abundance of grain and other food is accompanied by great numbers
of rats or large mice, which play all manner of pranks by night; white
ants have always to be guarded against likewise. Anyone who would find
an antidote to drive them away would confer a blessing; the natural
check is the driver ant, which when it visits a house is a great pest
for a time, but it clears the others out.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] There is a double purpose in these murders; the terror inspired
in the minds of the survivors spurs them on to endure the hardships of
the march: the Portuese drivers are quite alive to the merits of this
stimulus.--ED.

[13] A tribal distinction turns on the customs prevailing with respect
to animal food, _e.g._ one tribe will eat the elephant, the next looks
on such flesh as unclean, and so with other meat. The neighbouring
Manganja gladly eat the leopard and hyaena.--ED.

[14] A coloured cloth manufactured expressly for barter in East
Africa.

[15] This is pronounced "Y-yow."--ED.

CHAPTER IV.

Geology and description of the Waiyau land. Leaves Mataka's. The
Nyumbo plant. Native iron-foundry. Blacksmiths. Makes for the
Lake Nyassa. Delight at seeing the Lake once more. The Manganja
or Nyassa tribe. Arab slave crossing. Unable to procure passage
across. The Kungu fly. Fear of the English amongst slavers. Lake
shore. Blue ink. Chitane changes colour. The Nsaka fish.
Makalaose drinks beer. The Sanjika fish. London antiquities.
Lake rivers. Mukate's. Lake Pamalombe. Mponda's. A slave gang.
Wikatani discovers his relatives and remains.

_