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.
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