, and then went
away; so the people had food to sell. They here call themselves
Echewa, and have a different marking from the Atumboka. The men have
the hair dressed as if a number of the hairs of elephants' tails were
stuck around the head: the women wear a small lip-ring, and a straw or
piece of stick in the lower lip, which dangles down about level with
the lower edge of the chin: their clothing in front is very scanty.
The men know nothing of distant places, the Manganja being a very
stay-at-home people. The stockades are crowded with huts, and the
children have but small room to play in the narrow spaces between.

_25th November, 1866._--Sunday at Zeore's. The villagers thought we
prayed for rain, which was much needed. The cracks in the soil have
not yet come together by the "welling of soil produced by moisture. I
disabused their minds about rain-making prayers, and found the headman
intelligent.

I did not intend to notice the Lokuzhwa, it is such a contemptible
little rill, and not at present running; but in going to our next
point, Mpande's village, we go along its valley, and cross it several
times, as it makes for the Loangwa in the north. The valley is of rich
dark red loam, and so many lilies of the Amaryllis kind have
established themselves as completely to mask the colour of the soil.
They form a covering of pure white where the land has been cleared by
the hoe. As we go along this valley to the Loangwa, we descend in
altitude. It is said to rise at "Nombe rume," as we formerly heard.

_27th November, 1866._--Zeore's people would not carry without
prepayment, so we left our extra loads as usual and went on, sending
men back for them: these, however, did not come till 27th, and then
two of my men got fever. I groan in spirit, and do not know how to
make our gear into nine loads only. It is the knowledge that we shall
be detained, some two or three months during the heavy rains that
makes me cleave to it as means of support.

Advantage has been taken by the people, of spots where the Lokuzhwa
goes round three parts of a circle, to erect their stockaded villages.
This is the case here, and the water, being stagnant, engenders
disease. The country abounds in a fine light blue flowering perennial
pea, which the people make use of as a relish. At present the blossoms
only are collected and boiled. On inquiring the name, _chilobe_, the
men asked me if we had none in our country. On replying in the
negative