Here We Found That Traders, Called Bazunga, Have Been
In The Habit Of Coming In Canoes, And That I Was
Named as one of them.
These I supposed to be half-caste Portuguese, for they said
that the hair of
Their heads and the skin beneath their clothing
were different from mine. Ma Mburuma promised us canoes
to cross the Loangwa in our front. It was pleasant to see
great numbers of men, women, and boys come, without suspicion,
to look at the books, watch, looking-glass, revolver, etc.
They are a strong, muscular race, and both men and women are seen
cultivating the ground. The soil contains so much comminuted talc and mica
from the adjacent hills that it seems as if mixed with spermaceti.
They generally eat their corn only after it has begun to sprout
from steeping it in water. The deformed lips of the women
make them look very ugly; I never saw one smile. The people in this part
seem to understand readily what is spoken about God, for they listen
with great attention, and tell in return their own ideas of departed spirits.
The position of the village of Mburuma's mother was one of great beauty,
quite inclosed by high, steep hills; and the valleys are all occupied
by gardens of native corn and maize, which grow luxuriantly.
We were obliged to hurry along, for the oxen were bitten daily by the tsetse,
which, as I have before remarked, now inhabits extensive tracts
which once supported herds of cattle that were swept off
by Mpakane and other marauders, whose devastations were well known to Sekwebu,
for he himself had been an actor in the scenes.
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