We heard the fire of
three guns in the evening, and judged by the report that they must be
at least six-pounders. They were said to belong to an Ajawa chief
named Mukata.
In descending the Shire, we found concealed in the broad belt of
papyrus round the lakelet Pamalombe, into which the river expands, a
number of Manganja families who had been driven from their homes by
the Ajawa raids. So thickly did the papyrus grow, that when beat
down it supported their small temporary huts, though when they walked
from one hut to another, it heaved and bent beneath their feet as
thin ice does at home.
A dense and impenetrable forest of the papyrus was left standing
between them and the land, and no one passing by on the same side
would ever have suspected that human beings lived there. They came
to this spot from the south by means of their canoes, which enabled
them to obtain a living from the fine fish which abound in the
lakelet. They had a large quantity of excellent salt sewed up in
bark, some of which we bought, our own having run out. We anchored
for the night off their floating camp, and were visited by myriads of
mosquitoes. Some of the natives show a love of country quite
surprising. We saw fugitives on the mountains, in the north of the
lake, who were persisting in clinging to the haunts of their boyhood
and youth, in spite of starvation and the continual danger of being
put to death by the Mazitu.
A few miles below the lakelet is the last of the great slave-
crossings. Since the Ajawa invasion the villages on the left bank
had been abandoned, and the people, as we saw in our ascent, were
living on the right or western bank.
As we were resting for a few minutes opposite the valuable fishery at
Movunguti, a young effeminate-looking man from some sea-coast tribe
came in great state to have a look at us. He walked under a large
umbrella, and was followed by five handsome damsels gaily dressed and
adorned with a view to attract purchasers. One was carrying his pipe
for smoking bang, here called "chamba;" another his bow and arrows; a
third his battle-axe; a fourth one of his robes; while the last was
ready to take his umbrella when he felt tired. This show of his
merchandise was to excite the cupidity of any chief who had ivory,
and may be called the lawful way of carrying on the slave-trade.
What proportion it bears to the other ways in which we have seen this
traffic pursued, we never found means of forming a judgment.
