Bombay 28 Novr 1865

[...]1

    The Right Honourable
5                Earl Russell

                        My Lord
                                        I have the honour to
inform your Lordship that having arrived
here on the 11th Sept, I spent some time in
10organizing my expedition for the Interior of
Africa and was ready to start six weeks
ago

On again visiting my little steamer
I came to the conclusion that she was much
15too small to recross the two thousand &
seven hundred miles between this & the River
Rovuma, and that it would be unwise
go{to} aim to incur the risk of that navigation
for the sake of using her on the hundred
20and fifty miles of that river which is
navigable -

I therefore waited in the hope of hearing
of a passage in a man of war in accordance
with a request made by the Foreign Office
25to the Admiral but recieved no information
till the arrival of Commodore Montresor
a week ago when it appeared that the first
ship proceeding to the East Coast would
not be here for another month - His
30Excellency Sir Bartle Frere, however
having given me the option of a passage
in a small steamer named "Thule"
which is to be sent in a few days as a
present from this Government to
35the Sultan of Zanzibar I shall gladly
avail myself of this conveyance -

By the favour of his Excellency the
Governor I have twelve Sepoy volunteers
and a native officer from the Marine
5Battalion who having served as
Marines in the old East Indian Navy
in the Persian Gulph and on the coast
of Africa are prepared to undergo hardship
and it has been kindly arranged that
10this work will count as service.

In addition to these, eight liberated
Africans who have recieved some
education and been taught carpenter
and smith's work have also volunteered
15to serve

The most serious drawback to
travelling in Africa is the want of
carriage & beasts of burden - The insect
called the "Tsetse"" by destroying domestic
20animals confines cattle to very limited
areas of country - as wild buffaloes
are not injured by the bite of this pest
it occurred to me to try whether the tame
buffalo of India might not enjoy the
25same immunity, and by the very
friendly assistance of His Highness the
Sultan of Zanzibar, who wrote
an order with his own hand to the
Captain of one of his ships to convey
30what I might send on board, I
despatched fourteen of these animals
to be used as beasts of burden, and
as an experiment to see if they can
withstand the insect poison           The
35tame buffalo of India resembles the
wild one of Africa so closely that
0017
11. III
they must be more than half brothers
and should we succeed in introducing
a beast of burden it will be a boon to the
5country, and by rendering strangers
almost independent of native carriers
a blessing to travellers - The experiment
at any rate is worth the expense

His Excellency Sir Bartle Frere has
10done everything in his power to aid my
progress, and shewn more kindness
than I can express - Through his influence
the Sultan of Zanzibar furnished a
Firman to all his people whom we
15may meet - This will at least prevent
hostility and may do much more -
It is a gratifying proof of His Highness'
Friendship

Some of the gentlemen of Bombay
20of their own accord entered into a
subscription in aid of my expedition
and handed (£645) six hundred and
forty five Pounds to me - I have
deposited this sum with a mercantile
25form to be used as soon as I can point
out a comparatively healthy locality
in an effort to establish lawful
commerce, and begin that system
which has been so eminently success-
30ful on the West Coast - It is probable
that a mercantile house will manage
an affair of this kind to greater
advantage - and spend the money
to better purpose than I could, because
35I am deficient in the trading instinct

The explorations pointed out in
your Lordships Instructions and in
5those of the Royal Geographical
Society will claim my earliest
and earnest attention
                    I am your Lordships
                most obedient servant

                David Livingstone

4 April 1866 When about to start from
Pemba at the entrance to the other side of the
bay our buffalo gored a donkey so badly he
5had to be shot - cut off tips of offenders horns
on the principle of "locking the stable door
when the steed is stolen" and marched -
came on level spots destitute of vegetation
and hard on surface but a deposit of
10water below allowed camels to sink up
to their bodies through the crust - Hauled them
out and got along to Sirkar's House which
is built of coral & lime - Hamesh was profuse
in his professions of desire to serve but
15gave a shabby hut which let in rain and
wind - I slept one night in it and it was un-
bearable so I asked Sirkar to allow me to
sleep in his court room where many
of the sepoys were - consented & when I went
20refused - they being an excitable nervous
Arab took fright - got all his men amounting
to about fifteen with matchlocks mustered -
ran off saying he was going to kill a lion
came back shook hands nervously with
25me - saying it was a man who would
not obey him - "It was not you" - Our goods
were all out in the street bound on the
pack saddles so at night we took the ordinary
precaution of setting a gaurd - This excited
30our Sirkar and at night all his men were
again mustered with matches lighted - took
no notice of him and after he had spent a
great deal of talk which we could hear he
called Musa and asked what I meant -
35the explanations of Musa had the effect of
sending him to bed and in the morning
when I learned how much I had most
unintentionally disturbed him I told him
0049
43
5th April
1866 that I was sorry but it did not occur to me to
tell him about an ordinary precaution
5against thieves - He thought he had given me a
crushing reply when he said with vehemence
"But there are no thieves here" - I did not know
till afterwards that he and others had doing{ne} me an
ill turn in saying that no carriers could be
10hired from the independent tribes adjacent
they are low coast Arabs three quarters African
and as usual possessing the bad without the
good qualities of both parents - Many of them
came and begged brandy and laughed when they
15remarked that they could drink it in secret but
not openly - They have not however introduced it
as an article of trade as we christians have done
on the West Coast -

6th We made a short march round to the South West
20side of the lake - and spent the night at a village in
that direction - there are six villages dotted round the
inner harbour, and the population may amount
to 250 or 300 souls = Coast Arabs - and their slaves
two Banians had come for trade - The Southern
25portion of the harbour is deep - from 10 to 14 fathoms
but the North Western part is shoal & rocky -
very little is done in the way of trade - some
sorghum - sem sem seed - gum copal & orchilla
weed constitute the commerce of the part -

7th Went about South from Kindany with a
Somalie guide named Ben Ali or Bon Ali
a good looking obliging man who was to get
20 dollars to take us up to Ngomano - our
path lay in a valley with well wooded heights
35on each side - the grass towered over our heads
and gave the sensation of smothering - the
sun beat down on our heads very hot &
there was not a breath of air stirring -
not understanding camels I had to trust to
0050
44
7 April
1866 Sepoys who overloaded them and before we
had accomplished our march of about
5seven miles they were knocked up -

8th We spent this Sunday at a village called Nyañgedi
Here on the evening seventh April our
buffaloes and camels were first bitten by the
Tsetse - We had passed through some pieces of
10dense jungle which through no obstruction to
foot passengers but rather an agreable shade
had to be cut for the tall camels - We found
the Makonde of this village glad to engage them
-selves by the day either as wood cutters or
15carriers - We had left many things. with the
Sirkar from an idea that no carriers could be
procured - I now lightened the camels, and had a
party of wood cutters to heighten and widen the
path in the dense jungle into which we
20now penetrated - Every now and then
we emerged on open spaces where the Makonde
have cleared gardens for sorghum - maize
and cassava - The people very much more
taken up with the camels & buffaloes than
25with me - They are all independent of each
other and no paramount chief exists - Their
foreheads may be called compact - narrow &
rather low - the alae nasi expanded latterally
lips full not excessively thick - limbs &
30body well formed - hands & feet small - colour
dark and light brown - height middle size &
bearing independent -

10th We reached a village called Nuri Lat - 10° 23' 14"S
Many of the men had touches of fever - gave
35medicine to eleven of them and next morning
all were better - food is abundant & cheap
Our course is nearly South and in "Wadys"
from which following the trade road we
often ascend the heights and then from
40the villages which all on the higher land
0051
45
we descend to another on the same Wady - no
running water seen - people depend on wells
for a supply

1866
11th April At Tandahara we were still ascending as
we went South - soil very fertile with a good
admixture of sand in it but no rocks visible
very heavy crops of maize & sorghum are
10raised - Cassava bushes seven feet in height
the bamboos are cleared off - spread over the
space to be cultivated and burned to serve as
manure - Iron very scarce for many of
the men appear with wooden spears - they
15find none here but in some spots where an
ooze issued from the soil iron rust appeared
At each of the villages where we spent a night
we presented a fathom of calico and the headman
always gave a fowl or two and a basket of
20rice or maize - The Makonde dialect is quite
different from Swaheli but from their inter-
course with the coast Arabs many of the people
here have acquired a knowledge of Swaheli -

12th On starting we found the jungle so dense that the
25people thought that "there was no cutting it" &
continued upwards of [...]three miles - the trees not
large but so closely planted together that a great
deal of labour was required to widen & heighten
the path - Where bamboos prevail they have
30starved out the woody trees - the reason why the
trees are not large is because all the spaces we
passed over were formerly garden ground
when the Makonde had not been thinned by the
slave trade - as soon as a garden is deserted
35a thick crop of trees of the same sorts as those
formerly cut down springs up - and here the
process of woody trees starving out their
fellows and occuping the land without
dense scrub below has not had time to work
40itself out. Many are mere poles - and
0052
46
so entertwined with climbers as to present the
the appearance of a ship's ropes & cables shaken
in among them - many have woody stems
5as thick as an eleven inch howser - One
species may be likened to the scabbard of a
dragoon's sword but along the middle of the
flat side runs a ridge from which springs
up ever few inches a bunch of inch long straight
10sharp thorns - It hangs straight       For a couple
of yards but as if it could not give its thorns
a fair chance of mischief it suddenly bends on
itself and all its cruel points are now at right
angles to what they were before - Darwin's observations
15shew a great deal of what looks like instinct
in these climbers - this species {figure} seems to be
eager on mischief its tangled
limbs hang out ready to inflict injury on
all passers by - another climber is
20so tough it is not to be broken by the fingers
another appears at its root as a young
tree but it has the straggling habits of its
class as may be seen by its cords stretched
some fifty or sixty feet off - It is often 2
25inches in diameter - you cut it through at
one part and find it reappear 40 yards off
as if another plant

Another climber is like the leaf of an aloe
but convoluted as strangely as shavings from
30the plane of a carpenter - It is dark green in
colour and when its bark is taken off it is
beautifully str[  ]{ia}ted beneath lighter & darker
green like the rings of growth on wood
still another is a thin string with a succession
35of [...]large knobs - & another has its bark finished
up all round at intervals so as to present
a great many cutting edges - the common
one need scarcely be mentioned in which
0053
47
all along its length are strong bent hooks all
placed in the way that will hold one if it can
but grapple with him for that is common
5and not like those mentioned which seem to
be stragglers from the carboniferous period
of geologists when Pachydermata wriggled among
tangled masses worse than these unscathed - We
employed about 10 jolly young Makonde to
10deal with these prehistoric plants in their
own way - They are accustomed to clearing
spaces for gardens and went at the work with
a will using tomahawks well adapted for
the work {figure} They whittled away right
15manfully using an axe {figure} when any trees
had to be cut - their pay arranged before-
hand was to be one yard of calico per day -
This is not much seeing we are still so
near the sea coast - Climbers & young trees
20melted before them like a cloud before the Sun
Many more would have worked than we
employed but we used the precaution of
taking the names of those engaged - The tall men
became exhausted soonest while the shorter
25men worked vigorously still - but a couple
of days hard work seem to tell on the best of
them - It is doubtful if any but meat eating
people can stand long continued labour
without exhaustion - the Chinese may be
30an exception - Here the Makonde have
rarely the chance of a good feed of meat
It is only when one of them is fortunate
enough to spear a wild hog or an antelope
When a fowl is eaten they get but a taste of
35it with their porridge - When French Navvies
were first employed they could not do a
tithe of the work of our English ones - but when
the French were fed in the same style as the English
0054
48
13th
April
1866 they performed equally well

We now began to descend the Northern
slope down to the Rovuma and a glimpse
could occasionally be obtained of the
country - It seemed covered with great
masses of dark green forest but the
10undulations occasionally looked like
hills and here and there a sterculia had
put on yellow foliage in anticipation of
the coming winter - More frequently [...]{our}
vision was circumscribed to a few
15yards till our merry wood cutters made
for us the pleasant scene of a long
vista fit for camels to pass - As a whole
the jungle would have made the authors of the
natty little hints to travellers smile at their
20own productions - good enough perhaps
where one has an open country with trees
hills &c of which to take bearings - estimate
distances - see that one point is on the same
latitude another on the same longitude with
25such another and all to be laid down fair
and square with protractor - compass - but
so long as we remained within the vegetation
that is fed by the moisture from the Indian
ocean - the steamy - smothering air, and dank rank
30luxuriant vegetation made me feel like it
struggling for existence, and no more
capable of taking bearings than if I had been
in a hogshead & observing through the bunghole -

An old head ˄ Monijiñko man presented a goat - Asked
35if Sepoys wished to cut its throat - The Johannese
being of a different sect of Mahometans wanted
to cut it in some other way than their Indian
coreligionists - then ensued a fierce dispute
as to who was of the right sort of Moslem
40It was interesting to see that not christians
0055
49
13th April
1866 alone but other nations feel keenly on religious
subjects Saw rocks of grey sandstone like
5that which overlies coal and the Rovuma in the
distance - Didi name of a village whose headman
Chombokea with but one foot is said to be a doctor - All the head-
men pretend or are really doctors - One Fundindouba
came after me for medicine for himself however -

14th We succeeded in reaching the Rovuma
when some very red cliffs appear on the
opposite heights - and close by where it is
marked on the map that the Pioneer turned
15th in 1861 - Here we rested on Sunday 15th

Our course now lay westwards along
the side of that ragged outline of table land which
we had formerly seen from the river as
flanking both sides - There it appeared
a range of hills shutting in Rovuma - Here
20we had spurs putting out towards the River
and valleys retiring from a mile to three
miles inland - Sometimes we would round
them sometimes rose over and descended
their western sides and a great deal of
25wood cutting was required - the path is not
straight but from one village to another
however out of the straight W- S. W of the
true course it may be - We came per-
-petually on gardens - and remarked
30that rice was sown among the other grain
There must be a good deal of moisture
at other times to admit of this succeeding
At present, the crops were suffering for
want of rain - We could purchase plenty of rice
35for the Sepoys and well it was so for the supply
which was to last till we arrived at Ngomano
was finished on the 13th An old doctor with our
17 food awaiting presented me with two large bags
of rice unhusked & his wife husked it for us -

17th
April
1866 Not being acquainted with camels and my
5other men being equally ignorant of their
management I had to leave them in the hands
of the Sepoys - I ordered them to bring as little
luggage is possible and the Havildar assured
me that two buffaloes were amply sufficient
10to carry all he can{they} would bring - I now
find that they have more that full loads
for two buffaloes - two mules and two
donkeys but when these animals fall
down under the loads they assure me with
15so much positiveness that they are not over-
loaded that I have to be silent or only as I
have several times done express the opinion
that they would kill these animals - This
observation on my part leads them to
20hide their things in the packs of the camels
which too are overburdened - I fear that
my experiment with the Tsetse will be
vitiated but no symptoms yet occur
in any of those bitten except weariness,
25The Sun is very sharp - it scorches - nearly
all sepoys had fever but it is easily cured -
they never required to stop marching and
we cannot make over four or five
miles a day which movement aids in
30the cure -         In all cases of fever removal
from the spot of attack should be made -
After the fever by the Sepoys the Nassick
boys took their turn along with the Johannese
18th         Bon Ali misled us away up to the
35North in spite of my protest when we
turned in that direction - He declared that was
the proper path - We had much wood
cutting and found that our course that
day & next were to visit & return from
40one of his wives - a comely Makonde
0057
51
woman - He brought her to call on me and I had
to be polite to the lady though we lost a day by the
zigzag - This is one way by which the Arabs
5gain influence - a great many very light coloured
people are strewed among the Makonde but only one
of these had the Arab hair - On asking Ali whether
any attempts had been made by Arabs to convert
those with whom the Arabs enter into such intimate
10relationships he replied that the Makonde had no
idea of a Deity - No one could teach them though
Makonde slaves when taken to the coast & elsewhere
were made Mahometans - Since the slave trade was
introduced the Makonde have much diminished
15in numbers and one village makes war upon
another and kidnaps, but no religious teaching
has been attempted - the Arabs come down to the
native ways and make no attempts to raise the
natives to theirs - It is better that it is so for the
20coast Arab's manners and morals would be
no improvement on the pagan African -

19th April
1866 We were led up over a talus again and on to
the level of the plateau where the evaporation
25is greater than in the valley - tasted water for
the first time this journey of an agreable coldness
People especially women very nude and men very
eager to be employed as wood cutters - Very merry at it
every now & then one raises a cheerful shout in
30which all join -- I suppose they are urged on by
a desire to please their wives with a little clothing
The higher up the Rovuma we ascend the
people are more and more tattooed on the
face & and on all parts of the body - The teeth
35filed to points and huge lip rings in the women
some few Mabiha men from the South side
of the river have lip rings too -

20th A Johanna man allowed camels to
trespass on destroy a man's tobacco
40patch - The owner would not allow us
0058
52
20th
April
1866 After this to pass through his rice field in which
5the route lay - I examined the damage and
made the Johanna man pay a yard of calico
for it which set matters all right -

Tsetse biting buffaloes again - Elephants
Hippopotami and pigs are the only game
10here but we see none - The Tsetse feed on them
In the low meadow land from one to three
miles broad which lies along both banks we
have brackish pools - one a large one which
we passed is called Nrongwe had much fish
15and salt are got from it -

21st After a great deal of cutting we reached the
valley of Mehambwe to spend Sunday all
glad that it has come round again - Here
some men came to our camp from
20Ndonde who report that an invasion of
Mazitu had three months ago swept away
all the food out of the country and they
are now obliged to send in all directions
for [   ]{pro}visions - When saluting they catch
25each other's hands and say Ai! Ai! But
the general mode introduced probably by the
Arabs is to take hold of the right hand and say
Marhaba (welcome)

A wall eyed ill looking fellow who helped to
30urge on the attack in our first visit
and the man to whom I gave cloth to
prevent collision came about us dis-
guised in a jacket - I knew him well
but said nothing to him -

23d When we marched this morning we
passed the spot where an animal had
been burned in the [...]{fire} - on enquiry
I found that it is the custom when a
leopard is killed to take off the skin and
40consume the carcase thus because the
Makonde do not eat it - the reason
0059
53
23 April
1866 they gave for not eating flesh which is freely
eaten by other tribes is "that the leopard eats
5men" this shews the opposite of an
inclination to cannibalism

All the rocks we had seen shewed that
the plateau consists of grey sandstone
capped by a ferruginous sandy conglomerate
10We now came to blocks of silicified
wood lying on the surface - These are so
like recent wood that no one who has not
handled it would concieve it to be stone &
not wood - The outer surface preserves
15the grain or woody fibre the inner is
generally silica

Buffaloes bitten by Tsetse again - shew
no bad effects from it - One mule is dull
and out of health - thought that this might
20be the effect of the bite till I found that
his back was so strained that he could not
stoop to drink and could eat only the tops
of the grasses - An ox would have been
ill in two days after the biting on the 7th

A carrier stole a shirt and went off
unsuspected - When the loss was ascertained
the man's companions went off with
Ben Ali by night - got him in his hut
collected the headmen of the village who
30fined him about four times the value of
what had been stolen - They came back
in the morning without seeming to
think that they had done aught to be
commended this was the only case of
35theft we had noticed and it ˄ the treatment shews a
natural sense of justice

24th
April
1866 We had showers occasionally but at night
5all the men were under cover of screens -
the fevers were speedily cured - no day was
lost by sickness but we could not march
more than a few miles owing to the slowness
of the Sepoys - They are a heavy drag on us &
10of no possible use except acting as sentries
at night

When in the way between Kindany and
#Rovuma I observed a plant here called
Mandare the root of which is in taste &
15appearance like a waxy potato - I saw it
once before at the falls of             below
the Barotse valley in the middle of the Continent
It had been brought there by an emigrant
who led out the water irrigation and
20it still maintained its place in the soil
Would this not prove valuable in the soil
of India? I find that it is not cultivated
further up the country of the Makonde
but I shall get Ali to secure some for
25Bombay -

25th A serpent bit Jack our dog above the eye
Chuma saw it and set up a loud laugh at
the terror shewn by the dog - The upper eyelid
swelled very much but no other symptoms
30appeared - next day all swelling was gone
The serpent was either harmless or the quantity
of poison injected very small - The pace
of the camels is distressingly slow and
it suits the Sepoys to make it still slower
35than natural by sitting down to smoke &
eat - Grass very high and ground under it
damp and steamy

26th On the 25th we reached Narri and resolved
to wait next and buy food as it is not
40so plentiful in front - people eager traders
0061
55
26th
April
1866 in meal fowls eggs & honey - women very rude

Yesterday I caught a Sepoy Pando belabouring
a camel with a big stick as thick as any part of
his arm - the path being narrow it could not get
out of his way - shouted to him to desist. He did not
know I was in sight - Today the effect of the bad
10usage was seen in the animal being quite unable
to move its leg - Inflammation had set up in the
hip joint.        I am afraid that several bruizes
which have festered on the camels and were to
me unaccountable have been wilfully bestowed
15this same Pando & another left Zanzibar drunk -
He then stole a pair of socks from me and has
otherwise been perfectly useless - a pimple on his
leg was an excuse for doing nothing for many
days - We had to leave this camel at Narri under
20charge of the headman

The hills on the North now retired out of our
sight. A gap in the Southern plateau gives passage
to a small river which arises in a lakelet of
some size eight or ten miles inland - The
25river and Lakelet are called Nañgadi - The
Lakelet is so broad that men cannot be dis-
tinguished even by the keen eyes of the natives
on the other side - It is very deep and abounds
in large fish - The people are Mabiha -
30a few miles above this gap the southern
highland falls away and there are lakelets
on marshes also abounding in fish - An
uninhabited space next succeeds and
then we have the Matambwe country which
35extends up to Ngomano - the Matambwe
seem to be a branch of the Makonde and
a very large one - The country extends a
long way south - and is well stocked with
elephants and gum copal trees
0062
56
Their language is slightly different from that of
the Makonde but they understand each other
The Matambwe women are according to Ali
5very dark but very comely. Though they do
wear the lip ring. They carry their ivory gum copal
and slaves to Ibo or Wibo

29th April
1866 We spend Sunday 29th on banks of the
10Rovuma at a village called Nachuchu
nearly opposite Konayumba the first of the Matambwe
whose chief is called Kimbembe - Ali draws a
very dark picture of the Makonde - He says they
know nothing of a Duty - They pray to their mothers
15when in distress or dying - know nothing of a future
state nor have they any religion except a belief in
medicine and every headman is a doctor - No
Arab has ever tried to convert them but occasionally
a slave taken to the coast has been circumcised in
20order to be clean and some of them pray - says
they know not the ordeal or muavi - The
Nassick boys failed me when I tried to com-
municate some knowledge through them they say
that they do not understand Makonde language
25though some told me that they came from
Ndonde's which is the head quarters of the Makonde
Ali says that the Makonde blame witches for
disease and death - And one of a village dies
the whole population departs saying that is a
30bad spot - They are said to have been notorious
for fines but an awe has come over them
and no complaints have been made though
our animals in passing the gardens have broken
a good deal of corn - Ali says they fear the English -
35 [An] answer to my prayer for influence on the minds
of the heathen - I regret that I cannot speak to them
that good of his name which I ought

I went with the Makonde to see a specimen
of the gum copal tree in the vicinity of this
0063
57
29th
April
1866 village - The leaves are in pairs like the
5glossy green with the veins a little raised on both face
and back - The smaller branches diverge from same
point - The fruit of which we saw the shells seems
{figure} to be a nut a little larger than this - some animal
had in eating cut them through thus- the bark of
10the tree is light ashy in colour - the gum was oozing
from the bark at wounded places - and it drops
on the ground from the branches - in this process the
insects are probably imbedded - the people dig
in the vicinity of Modern trees in the belief
15that the more ancient trees which dropped their
gum before it became an article of commerce
must have stood there - "In digging none may be
found on one day but God (Mungu) may give
it to us on the next" - to this all the Makonde
20present assented, and shewed me though the
Arab idea was that they had no knowledge of a
supreme being No consciousness of his existence
was present in their minds - the Makonde get
the gum in large quantities - This attracts the coast
25Arabs who remain a long time in the country
purchasing it - Hernia humoralis abounds
it is ascribed to beer drinking

Many ulcers burst forth on camels - some
seem old dhow bruizes - They come back
30from feeding bleeding in a way that no
rubbing against a tree would account
for - I am sorry to suspect foul play - the
buffaloes and mules are badly used - but I
cannot be always near to prevent it -

Bang is not smoked but tobacco is - people
have no sheep or goats - only fowls, pigeons,
and muscovy ducks are seen - Honey very
cheap - a good large pot of about a gallon
with four fowls was given for 2 yards of
40calico - buffaloes again bitten by Tsetse
0064
58
30th
April
1866 and by another fly exactly like the house fly
5but having a straight hard proboscis instead of
a soft one - other large flies make the blood
run - the tsetse does not disturb the
buffaloes but these other and smaller
flies do - the Tsetse seems to like the camel
10best - these they are gorged with blood - they
dont seem to care for the mules
and donkeys

1st May
1866        We now came along through a country
15comparatively free of wood - We could
move on without perpetual cutting &
clearing - It is beautiful to get a good
glimpse out on the surrounding scenery -
though it still seems nearly all covered
20with great masses of umbrageous foliage
mostly of a dark green colour - Most
of the individual trees posses dark glossy
leaves like laurel. We passed a gigantic
specimen of the Kumbe or gum copal
25tree - Kumba means to dig -. Changkumbe
or things dug is the name of the gum
the Arabs call it Sandarusē - Did the people
give the name Kumbe to the tree after
the value of the gum became known
30to them - The Malole from the fine
grained wood of which all the bows
are made had shed its fruit on the
ground, the fruit looks inviting to the
eye - an oblong peach looking thing
35with a number of seeds inside but
it is eaten by maggots only -

When we came to Ntande village we
found it enclosed in a strong stockade
from a fear of attack by Mabiha who
40come across the river and steal their
women when going to draw water - this is
0065
59
for the Iboe market - they offered to pull
down their stockade and let us in if we
would remain overnight but we declined
5Before reaching Ntande we passed the
ruins of two villages - the owners were the
attacking party when we ascended the Rovuma
in 1862 - I have still the old sail with four
bullet holes through it which they fired after
10we had given cloth and got assurances of
friendship - the father and son of this village
were the two men seen by the 2d boat after
preparing to shoot - the fire of the 2d boat
struck the father on the chin and the son on
15the head - It may have been for the best
that the English are known as people who
can hit hard when unjustly attacked as
as we on this occasion were. Never
was murderous assault more unjustly made
20or unprovoked - They had left their villages
and gone up over the highlands away
from the river their women came to look at us -

May
1866 Mountains again approach us and we
25pass one which was noticed in our first
ascent as like a table mountain - It is 600 or 800
feet high {figure} and called Liparu - It is the plateau
now become mountainous - A perennial stream
comes down from its western base and forms
30a lagoon in the meadow land which flanks the
Rovuma - the trees which love these perpetual
streams spread their roots all over the surface
of the boggy banks & form a firm surface
but at spots one may sink a yard deep
35pages
we
[   ]d is
[   ]led
[   ]onga #We had to fill up these deep ditches with branches
40and leaves - unload the animals & lead them
across - spent night on the banks of the
Liparu and then proceeded on our way -

3 May
1866 We rested in a Makoa village the head
of which was an old woman - the
5Makoa or Makoane are known by
a half moon figure on their foreheads
or elsewhere - our poodle dog Chitani
chased the dogs of this village with
unrelenting fury - His fierce looks
10inspired terror among the wretched
pariah dogs of a yellow & white colour
and those looks were entirely owing
to it being difficult to distinguish at
which end his head or tail lay - He
15enjoyed the chase of the yelping curs
immensely - and if one of them had
turned he would have bolted the other
way

A motherly looking woman came for-
20ward and offered me some meal -
this was when we were in the act of
departing - others had given food to the
men and no return had been made
I told her to send it on by her husband
25and I would purchase it - It would have
been better to have accepted it. some
give merely our of kindly feeling & with
no prospect of a return

Many of the Makoa men have their
30faces thickly tatooed in double raised
lines of about half an inch in length
{figure} after the incisions are made
charcoal is rubbed in and the flesh
pressed out so that all the cuts are raised
35above the level of the surface - It gives
them rather a hideous look and a good
deal of that fierceness which our
Kings and other [...] of old put on
when having their portraits taken

4th
May
1866 The stream embowered in perpetual shade
5and over spread with the roots of of water loving
broad leaved trees we found to be called Nkonya
the spot of our encampment was an island
formed by a branch of it parting & reentering
it again - The owner had used it for rice

Buffaloes bitten again by the Tsetse on 2d and
also today From the bites of other flies which
look much more formidable than tsetse blood
of arterial colour flows down - This symptom
I never saw before but when we slaughtered
15an ox which had been tsetse bitten we obser-
-ved that the blood had the arterial hue - The
cow has inflammation of one eye and a
swelling on the right lumbar portion of the pelvis
The grey buffalo has been sick but this
20I attributed to unmerciful loading - His back is
hurt -      The camels do not seem to feel the
fly though they get weaker from the horrid
running sores upon them & hard work -
No symptoms of Tsetse in Mules or donkey
25but one mule has had his shoulder sprained
and he cannot stoop to eat or drink

We saw the last of the flanking range
on the North - the country in front is plain
with a few detached granitic peaks shot
30up - The Makoa in large numbers live
at the end of the range in a place called
Nyuchi -          At Nyamba a village where
we spent the night of the 5th was a doctor
5th and rain maker - she presented a large
35basket of Soroko or as they called it in
India "Mung" and a fowl she is tall &
well made with fine limbs and feet
she was profusely tatooed all over - Even
hips and buttocks had their elaborate
40markings - no shame is felt in exposing these parts.

5th May
1866 a good deal of salt is made by lixiviation
of the soil and evaporating by fire
5One head woman had a tame Khanga
tore or tufted guinea fowl with bluish
instead of white spots

In passing along westwards after
leaving the end of the range we came first
10of all on sandstone hardened by fire
Then granitic masses as if that had been
contained the igneous agency of partial
metamorphosis - It had also lifted up the
sandstone so as to cause a dip to the East
15then the syenite or granite seemed as
if it had been melted for it was all in
striae which striae as they do elsewhere run
East and West - With the change in
Geological structure we have a different
20vegetation - Instead of the laurel leaved
trees of various kinds we have African
ebonies - acacias & mimosae - the grass
is shorter and more sparse and we
can move along without wood cutting
25We were now opposite a hill on the
South called Simba a lion from its
supposed resemblance to that animal
A large Mabiha population live there
and make raids occasionally over
30to this side for slaves

Tsetse again: animals look drowsy -
cows eye dimmed - when punctured
skin emits a stream of scarlet blood

6th People seem intelligent and respectful
35At service a man began to talk but
when I said "Kusoma mungu" to pray
to God he desisted - It would be interesting to
know what the ideas of these men are
and ascertain what they have gained
0069
63
in their communings with nature during the
ages past. They do not give the idea of that
boisterous wickedness & disregard of life which
5we read of in our own dark ages, but I have no
one to translate - I can understand much of what
is said on common topics chiefly from knowing
other dialects

7th
10May
1866 A camel died during night and the grey
buffalo in convulsions this morning - The
cruelty of these sepoys vitiates my experiment
and I quite expect many camels - one buffalo
15and one mule to die yet - they sit down
and smoke and eat leaving the animals loaded
in the sun - If I am not with them it is a
constant dawdling - The are evidently un
-willing to exert themselves - They cannot
20carry their belts and bags and their powers
of eating and vomiting are a caution -
The Makonde villages are remarkably clean
but no sooner do we pass a night in one
than the fellows soil all about it - The
25climate does give a sharp appetite but
these Sepoys indulge it till relieved by
vomiting & purging - They breakfast then
an hour afterwards they are sitting eating
the pocketfuls of corn ^ maize the have ^ stolen & brought
30for the purpose - I have to go ahead,
otherwise we may be misled into a zigzag
course to see Ali's friends, and if I
remain behind to keep the Sepoys on the
move, it deprives me of all the pleasure
35of travelling - We have not averaged 4
miles a day in a straight line yet the
animals have often been kept in the
sun for eight hours at a stretch - When
we get up at 4 AM - we cannot get
40underweight before eight - Sepoys are a
mistake

7th May
1866 -      We are now opposite a mountain
called Nabungala which resembles from
5the North East an Elephant lying down
Another camel a very good one died
in the way - shiverings & convulsions
are not at all like what we observed
in horses and oxen killed by Tsetse but
10such may be the cause however
The only symptom pointing to the
Tsetse is the arterial looking blood
but we never saw it ooze from
the skin after the bite of the gad fly as
15now

8th May We arrived at a village called ^ or Liponde Iponde
which lies opposite a granite hill on the
other side of the river where we spent a
night on our boat trip - It is called
20Nakapuri. rather oddly for the words are
not Makonde but Sichuana - goat's horn
from the masses jutting out from the rest
of the mass - I left the Havildar Sepoys
and Nassick boys here in order to make
25a forced march forward where
no food is to be had and send either to the South
or westwards for supplies so that after
they have rested the animals & themselves
five days they may come - one mule
30very ill - one buffalo drowsy & exhausted
one camel a mere skeleton from bad
sores - another with an enormous hole
at the point of the pelvis which sticks out
at the side - I suspect that this was made
35maliciously for he came from the
field bleeding profusely - no tree would
have perforated in a round hole in
this way. I take all the goods and
leave only the Sepoys' luggage which
40is enough for all the animals now -

9th May
1866 I went on with the Johanna men and 24
carriers. It was a pleasure to get away from the
5sepoys and Nassick boys - The two combined to
overload the animals - I told them repeatedly
that they would kill them, but no sooner had
I adjusted the burdens, and turned my back
than they put on all their things - sneaking
10deception is so dear to these Nassick boys I
suspect they have been sold out of their own
countries for crimes - It was so unpleasant for
me to be scolding them, and then find them with
their inveterate low cunning depositing their things
15slyly under the goods, that I gave up speaking
not only did they not carry their own beds or
blanket but they accumulated food & loaded
the beasts with that - one boy had a bag of maize
stowed on the mule and it fell down under
20this addition - He was foolish enough to
let out what the others probably thought for he
refused point blank to do the small modicum
of work I could get out of them namely to
lead a mule or a buffalo - This implied
25nothing but walking before it for they never
drew the beast aside on coming to a stump
or tree but let its burden shove it aside
and of course strain his muscles. As
he shouted out his determination to do nothing
30and growled out in addition something about
the crime I had been guilty of in bringing
them into this wild country I applied a
stick vigorously to a part of his body
where no bones are likely to be broken till
35he came to his senses - on the first gentle
application he said "You may take your
gun and shoot me I'll do nothing" - This
shewed me that a gentle chastisement would
not do and I gave at him in earnest till
40he was satisfied he had made a mistake in ringleading
0072
66
It was however such continual vexation
to contend with the sneaking slave spirit
that I gave up annoying myself by
5seeing matters, though I felt certain that
the animals would all be killed - We
10th
May
1866 - did at least eight miles pleasantly well
10and slept at Moeda a village - Rocks
still syenite - passed a valley with
the large athorny acacias of which canoes
are often made - and a Euphorbaceous
tree with seed vessels as large as Mandarin
15oranges with three seeds inside - We
were now in a country which in
addition to the Mazite invasion was
suffering from one of those inexplicable
droughts to which limited and sometimes
20large portions of this country are subject
It had not been nearly so severe a{on} the
opposite or south side and hither too
the Mazite had not penetrated - Rust,
which plagued us nearer the coast is
25now not observed - the grass is all
crisp & yellow - many of the plants
dead and many leaves fallen off the
trees as if winter had begun - Many
leaves are also discoloured - the ground
30is covered with open forest with
here and there thick jungle on the
banks of streams - All the rivulets
we have passed are mere mounttain
torrents filled with sand in which
35the people dig for water -

We passed the spot where an Arab
called Birkal was asked payment
for leave to pass - After two and a
half days parley he fought & killed two
40Makonde & mortally wounded a headman
0073
67
which settled the matter - no fresh demand has
been made - Ali's brother also resisted the
same sort of demand - fought several times
5or until three Makonde and two of his people
were killed - They then made peace and no
other exactions have been made

11th May
1866We now found a difficulty in getting our
10carriers on account of exhaustion
from want of food. In going up a sand
stream called Nyelle we saw that all moist
spots had been planted with maize & beans
so the loss caused by the Mazite who swept
15the land like a cloud of locusts will not
be attended by much actual starvation - We
met a runaway woman - she was seized
by Ali and it was plain that he expected
a reward for his pains - He thought she was
20a slave but a quarter of a mile off was the
village she had left and it being doubtful
if she were a runaway at all the would be
fugitive slave capture turned out a failure

12th About 4' EW.E of Matawatawa or
25Nyamatolole our former turning point.

13th We halted at a village at Matawatawa
a pleasant looking lady with her face pro-
fusely tatooed came forward with a bunch
of sweet reed or Sorghum saccharatum
30and laid it at my feet saying - "I met
you here before" pointing to the spot aton the
river where we turned - I remember
her coming then and asking the boat to wait
while she went to bring us a basket of
35food - I think it was given to Chiko and
no return made - It is sheer kindliness
that prompts them sometimes - Though
occasionally people do make presents
with a view of getting a larger one in return
40it is pleasant to find it not always so --

13th
May
1866 She had a quiet dignified manner both
5in talking and walking - I now gave
her a small looking glass - and she went
and brought me her only fowl and a
basket of cucumber seeds from which
oil is made - from the amount of oily
10matter they contain they are nutritious
when roasted and eaten as nuts - if{she}
made an apology saying it was{they were} hungry
times at present - I gave her a cloth
and so parted with Kanañgone or
15as her name may be spelled Kanañone
Carriers very useless from hunger
and we could not buy anything for them
country all dried up & covered sparsely
with mimosas & thorny acacias

14th Could not get the carriers on more
than an hour and three quarters - men
tire very soon on empty stomachs
We had reached the village of Hassane
opposite to a conical hill named Chisulwe
25It is on the south side of the river and
evidently of igneous origin - It is tree
covered while the granite always shews
lumps of naked rock - All about great
patches of beautiful dolomite lie -
30It may have been formed by baking
of the tufa which in this country
seems always to have been poured
out with water after volcanic
action - Hassane's daughter was just
35lifting a pot of French beans boiled
in their pods off the fire when we
entered the village - He presented them
to me and when I invited him to partake
but he replied that he was at home
40and would get something while I was
0075
69
14th
May
1866 a stranger on a journey - He like all the other
5head men is a reputed doctor and his wife
a stout old lady a doctoress - He had never
married any wife but this one and he had
four children all of whom lived with their
parents -      We employed one of his sons to
10go to the south side and purchase food.
sending at the same time some carriers to buy
for themselves - The siroko and rice bought
by Hassane's son we deposited with him
for the party behind when they should arrive
15The amount of terror the Mazite inspire
cannot be realized by us - observed that a
child would not go a few yards for necessary
purpose unless grandmother stood in sight
They shake their shields and the people fly like
20stricken deer - Matumore or as the Arabs
call the chief at Ngomano gave them a
warm reception and killed several of them
This probably induced them to retire -

15th Miserably short marches from hunger - I
25sympathize with the poor fellows - sent them
16th to buy food for themselves on the south bank
but misled by a talkative fellow named
Chikungu they went off North where we
knew nothing can be had - His object was to
30get paid for three days while they only
loitered here - I suppose hunger has taken
the spirit out of them - but I told them that a
day in which no work was done did not
count - They addmitted this - We pay about
352 feet of calico per day and a fathom or six
feet for three days carriage -

17th With very empty stomachs they came on
a few miles and proposed to cross to
south side - as this involved crossing
40the Loendi too I at first objected but
0076
70
17th
May
1866 in hopes that we might get food for
5them we consented and were taken over
in two very small canoes - sent Ali
and Musa meanwhile to the South
to try and get some food - got a little
given Sorghum for them and paid them
10off- These are the little troubles of travelling
and scarce worth mentioning - a
granitic peak now appears about 15'
off to the West N{S} West {figure} It is called
Chihoka

18th At our crossing place metamorphic
rocks of a chocolate colour stood
on edge - and in the country round
we have patches of dolomite sometimes
as white as marble - country all dry
20grass & leaves crisp & yellow - though
so dry now yet the great abundance
of the dried stalks of a water loving
plant - a sort of herbaceous acacia
with green pea shaped flowers - shews
25that at other times it is damp enough
feet
now the marks of peoples footing floundering
in slush but no dry shews that the
country can be sloppy

The headman of the village where we
spent night of 17th is a martyr to
Rheumatism - He asked medicine &
when I gave him some he asked me to
give it to him out of my own hand
35He gave me a basket of siroko and
of green Sorghum as a fee which
I was very glad for my own party
were suffering and I had to share
the little portion of flour I had reserved
40to myself -

19th May
1866 Coming on with what carriers we could
find at the crossing place we reached the
5confluence without seeing it and Matumora
being about two miles up the Loendi we
sent over to him for aid - He was over this
morning early a tall well made man
with a somewhat severe expression of
10countenance from a number of wrinkles
on his forehead - He took us over the Loendi
which is decidedly the parent stream of the
Rovuma though that as it come from the
West still retains the name - Loendi from the
15South West here and is from 150 to 200 yards
wide while Rovuma above Matawatawa is
from 200 to 250 yards - full of islands rocks &
sandbanks - Loendi has the same character
We can see the confluence from where we cross
20about 2' to the North - They are both rapid shoal
and sandy - small canoes are used on them
and the people pride themselves on their skilful
management - In this the women seem in no
ways inferior to the men -      In looking up
25the Loendi we see a large granitic peak
called Nkanye some 20' off and beyond it
the dim outline of distant highlands in which
see{a}ms of coal are exposed - Pieces of the
mineral are found in Loendi's sands - -
30Matumora has a good character in the country
and many flee to him from oppression
He was very polite - sitting on the right
bank till all the goods were crossed over
then coming in the same canoe with me
35himself - opened a fish bask in a weir
and gave me the contents - then a little
green Sorghum - He literally has lost all
his corn for he was obliged to flee with
all his people to Marumba a rocky island
40in Rovuma about 6' above Matawatawa

19th
May
1866. Matumora says that both Loendi and Rovuma
5come out of Lake Nyassa - a boat could not
ascend however because many waterfalls are
in their course - It is strange if all is a myth
Matumora asked if the people through whom
I had come would preserve the peace I
10wished - He has been assalted on all sides by
slave hunters - He alone has never hunted
for captives - If the people in front should
attack me he would come and fight them
Had never seen a European before Dr Roscher
15travelled as an Arab - nor could I learn
where Likumbu at Ngomano lives - It was
with him that Roscher is said to have left his
goods

The Mazite had women children oxex{n} &
20goats with them - the whole tribe lives on
plundering the other natives by means of the
terror their shields inspire - Had they gone
further down Rovuma no ox would have
survived the Tsetse

20th Paid Ali to his entire satisfaction and sent
off a despatch "No 2 Geographical" and then
sent off four men South to buy food -
Here we are among Matambwe - Two of
30Matumora's men act as guides. We are
about 2' South & by West of the confluence
Ngomano - Lat. 11° 26' 23". Long. 37° 49' 52' E

Abraham came up and said he had
been sent by the Sepoys who declared they
35would come no further - It was with
the utmost difficulty they had come so far
or that the Havildar had forced them on
they would not obey him - Would not
get up in the mornings to march - Lay
40in the paths and gave their pouches & muskets
0079
73
to the natives to carry - they make themselves utterly
useless - black buffalo dead - one camel Do and one
mule left behind ill - It is difficult to dissassociate
5the bad treatment and Tsetse bites - the experiment is
vitiated - were I not aware of the existence of the Tsetse
I should say they died from sheer bad treatment &
hard work -

Sent a note to be read to Sepoys - it stated
10that I had seen their disobedience - unwillingness
and skulking and as soon as I recieved the
Havildar's formal evidence I would send them
back - I regretted parting with the Havildar only -
they excelled only in eating and vomiting - the
15climate gives a keen appetite and unrestrained
indulgence then results in emesis

Leopard came a little after dark while moon
was shining and took away a little dog from among
us - It is said to have taken off a person a few
20days ago - I

22d Men returned with but little food in return
for much cloth - Matumora very friendly but he
has nothing to give save a little green sorghum &
- that he brings daily

A South wind blows strongly every afternoon
the rains ceased about the middle of May &
the temperature is lowered - A few heavy night
showers closed the rainy season

23d - 24 Lunars &c

25th Matumora is not Ndonde - that is a chief
to the South West of this - Matumora belongs to the
Matumbwe tribe

26th Sent Musa Westwards to buy food and he
returned on evening of 27th without success
35found an Arab slave dealer waiting in
the path and he had bought up all the food
about 11 P M - saw two men pass our door
with two women in a chain - one man
0080
74
carried fire in front - one behind a musket
Matumora admits that his people sell each
other

27th
May
1866 The Havildar and Abraham came up
Havildar says all I said in my note
was true and when it was read to the Sepoys
10they bewailed their folly the Havildar says
though they were all sent away disgraced
no one would be to blame but themselves
He had brought them to Hassane's but
they were useless though they begged to be
15kept on - May give them another trial
but at present they are a sad incumbrance
South West of this Manganja begin but if
one went by them there is a space beyond
in South West without people

The country due West of this is described
by all to be so mountainous and beset
by Mazite that there is no possibility
of passing that way - I must therefore
make my way to middle of Lake - cross
25over and then take up my line of 1863 -

2 June The men sent to the Matambwe South East of this
returned with a good supply of grain - The
Sepoys wont come - say they cannot a
30mere excuse because they tried to prevail
on Nassick boys to go slowly like them;
and wear my patience out - They killed
one camel beating it till it died - They used
the but ends of their muskets - I thought
35of going down disarming them all and
taking five or six of the willing ones but
it is more trouble than profit so I propose
to start Westwards on Monday 4th or Tuesday
5th Sepoys offered Ali eight Rupees to
40take them to the coast so it has been a
regularly organized conspiracy

2 June
1866From the appearance of the cow buffalo I
fear the tsetse is its chief enemy but it has what
5looks like a bayonet wound on its shoulder
and many of the wounds or bruizes on the
camels were so probed that I suspect the sepoys
This suspicion is supported by my lighting on one
of them belabouring a camel with a thick stick
10and next day the beast was unable to move from
inflammation on the hip joint from blows on the
Trochanter Major - This, had I not seen & shouted to the
fellow I should have set down to natural causes

Many things African are possessed of as great
15vitality in their line as the African people - The white
ant was imported accidentally into St Helena
from the coast of Guinea and have committed
such ravages in the town of St James that many
people have been ruined & the Governor calls out
20for aid against them - In other so called new
countries a wave of English weeds follows the tide of
English Emigration - and so with insects - the
European house fly chases away the blue bottle fly
in New Zealand - settlers have carried the house fly
25in bottles & boxes for their new locations but what
European insect will follow us & extirpate
the tsetse - the Arabs have given the Makonde bugs
but we have no house fly wherever we go and
in addition blue bottle flies - another fly like the
30house fly but with a sharp proboscis - and
several enormous gad flies - Here there is so
much room for everything - In New Zealand
the Norwegian rat is driven off by even the
European mouse - not to mention the Hanoverian
35rat of Waterton which is lord of the land - the Maori
say that "as the white man's rat has driven
away the native rat - so the European fly drives
away our own - and the clover kills our fern
so will the Maori disappear before the white
40man himself" - the hog placed ashore by
0082
76
2 June
1866 by Captain Cook has now overran one side
of the island and is such a nuisance that
5a large farmer ^ of 100 000 acres has given sixpence per head
for the destruction of some 20 000 & without
any sensible diminution - this would be
no benefit here for the wild hogs abound
and do much damage besides affording
10food for the Tsetse - They brutes follow
the ewes with young and devour the poor
lambs as soon as they make their appearance

3d June The cow buffalo fell down foaming
at the mouth and expired - She had what
15seemed to be a bayonet wound on the
shoulder ^ in which ^ the weapon had broken      the ridge
of the scapula - The meat looks fat &
nice - and is relished by the people - a
little glairiness seemed to be present on
20the foreleg and sometimes think that
notwithstanding the dissimilarity of
of the symptoms observed in the
camels & buffaloes now and those
we saw in oxen & horses the evil may
25be the Tsetse after all - But they have
been badly used without a doubt -
the calf has a cut half an inch deep -
the camels have had large ulcers -
and at last a peculiar smell which
30portended death - I feel perplexed &
not at all certain as to the real causes
of death -

The Sepoys are a nuisance - I have
sometimes thought of going back dis-
35arming half and sending them back so
this might be disapproved by the military
authorities in India - on the other
hand in going back armed they
0083
77
may use these arms among the Makonde
and bring disgrace on the English name

If I had known their language it might
5have been different but here they have stood
and hindered my progress some twelve days
I had however ready translators ever at
hand in the Nassick boys - I must go forward
for I have to send some forty mules for food
10and am wearing out my other men while
the Sepoys sit and talk - It seems certain that
they gave Ali eight Rupees to take them back
to the coast without ever asking leave to go -

Asked Matumora if the Matambwe
15believed in God - He replied that he did not
know him and I was not to ask the people
among whom I was going if they prayed to
Him because they would imagine that
I wished them to be killed - Told him that we
20loved to speak about Him - &c He said when
they prayed they offered a little meal and
then prayed but did not know much about
him - They have all great reverence for the
Deity and the deliberate way in which they
25say we dont know him is to prevent speaking
irreverently and that may injure the country -
The name is Mulungu - Makodiera afterwards
said that "He was not good because he
killed so many people"

4 June Left Ngomano - I was obliged to tell
the Nassick boys that they must either
work or return - It was absurd to have
them eating up our goods and not even
carrying their own things and I would
35submit to it no more - Five of them
carry bales & two the luggage of the rest
Abraham & Richard are behind - I gave
them bales to carry & promised them
ten Rupees per month to begin on this
40date - Abraham has worked hard all along
0084
78
5th
June
1866 and his pay may be due from seventh
5April the day we started from Kindany

We slept at a village called Lamba
on the banks of Rovuma here a brawling
torrent ^ 50 150 yards or 200 yards perhaps with many islands & rocks in it
country covered with open scraggy
10forest with patches of cultivation
everywhere but all dried up at present
and withered partly from drought &
partly from the cold of winter -      We
passed a village with good ripe sorghum
15cut down and the heads or ears all laid
neatly in a row - This is to get it dried in
the sun and not shaken out by the wind
by waving to & fro - It is also more easily
watched from being plundered by birds -
20The sorghum occasionally does not yield
seed - It is then the Sorghum saccaratum
for the stalk contains abundance of sugar
and is much relished & planted by the
natives - Now that so much has failed
25to yield seed - much of indeed being just in
flower the stalks are chewed as if sugar
cane and the people are fat thereon
but the hungry time is in store when these
stalks are all done - they make the best
30provision in their power against this
by planting beans & maize in moist
spots - The common native pumpkin
forms a bastard sort in the same way
but that is considered very inferior
35to the common pumpkin

6th Great hills of granite are occasionally
got a glimpse in the North but the trees
though scraggy close in the view -
We left a village called Mekosi and soon
40came to a slaving party by a sandstream
0085
79
they said that they had bought two slaves but
they had run away from them - They asked us
to remain with them - more civil than inviting -
5So we came on to Makodiera the principal head
man in this quarter and found him a merry
laughing mortal without any good looks to
recommend his genial smile - low forehead
covered with deep wrinkles - flat nose somewhat
10of the Assyrian shape - a big mouth & scraggy
person - complained of the Maclinga a Waiyau
tribe north of him & Rovuma stealing his people
Lat. of vil 11°22'49" South - The river being about
2' north still shews that it makes a trend to
15the North after we pass Ngomano - He has been
an elephant hunter - few acknowledge as a
reason for slaving that sowing & spinning cotton
for clothing was painful - Waited some days
for Nassick boys who are behind though we
20could not buy any food except at enormous
prices and long distances off

7th June The Havildar and two sepoys came up with
Abraham but Richard a Nassick boy still
behind from weakness - sent three off to help
25him with the only cordials we could muster
the sepoys sometimes profess inability to
come on but it is unwillingness to encounter
hardship - I must move on whether they
come or not for we cannot obtain food here
30I sent Sepoys some cloth and on the 8th
proposed to start but every particle of food
had been devoured the night before so we sent
off two parts to scour the country round &
give any price rather than want -

I could not prevail on Makodiera to give me
a specimen of poetry - He was afraid - neither
he nor his forefathers had ever seen an
Englishman - He thought that God was not
good because he killed so many people
40Dr Roscher must have travelled as an
Arab if he came this way for he was
not known

9th
June
1866 We now left and marched through the
5same sort of scraggy forest gradually
ascending in altitude as we went West
Then we came to huge masses of granite
or syenite with flakes peeling off - They
are covered with a plant with grassy
10looking leaves and rough stalk which
peels off into portions similar to what
are put round candles as ornaments
It makes these hills look light grey with
pathes of black rock at the more perpendicular
15parts - The same at about ten miles off
look dark blue - The ground is often hard
and stoney but all covered over with
grass and plants - Looking down at it the
grass is in tufts and like that on the
20Kalahari desert - Trees shew uplands
that of which bark cloth is made a
Pterocarpus is abundant - Timber trees
seen here and there but scragginess &
a height of some 20 or 30 feet predominates
25We spent the night by a hill of the usual
rounded form & called Njeñgo - the
Rovuma comes close by but leaves us
again to wind among similar great masses
Lat 11° 20' 05 S -

10th a very heavy march through same
kind of country no human habitation
appearing - passed a dead body recently
it was said starved to death - the
large tract between Makocherás and
35our next station at Ngozo hill is without
any perennial stream - water is
found often by digging in the same
streams which we several times
crossed - sometimes it was a trickling
40rill but suspect that at some
0087
81
10th June
1866 other seasons all is dry - and people are
made dependent on the Rovuma alone -
5The first evidence of our being near the
pleasant haunts of man was a [ ]{n}ice little
woman drawing water at a well - I had become
separated from the rest - on giving me
water she knelt down and as country
10manners require held it up to me with both
hands - I had been misled by one of the carriers
who got confused though the rounded mass
of Ngozo was plainly visible from the
heights we crossed East of it -

An Arab party bolted on hearing of our
approach - they dont trust the English &
this conduct increases our importance
among the natives Lat 11° 18' 10" South -

11th            Carriers refuse to go further because
20they say that they fear being captured here
on their return - This is one of the
troubles of travelling - and not worth
mentioning

12th Paid off carriers and wait for a set
25from this - visited by a respectable man
called Makoloya or Impande - He wished to
ask some questions as to where I was going
how long I should be away - Had heard from
a man who came from Iboe or Wibo
30about the bible - a large book which was
consulted -

13 He brought his wife and a little corn -
says that his father told him that there is a God
but nothing more = the marks on their
35foreheads and bodies meant only to give
beauty in the dance - they seem a sort
of heraldic ornament for they can at
once tell by his tatoo to what tribe or
portion of tribe he belongs - the
0088
82
13th
June
1866 tattoo or tembo of the Matambwe and
5upper Makonde very much resembles
the drawing of the old Egyptians - wavy
lines such as the ancients made to signify
water - Trees and gardens enclosed in
squares seem to have been meant of
10old for the inhabitants who lived on the
Rovuma and cultivated also - The son
takes the tattoo of his father and thus
it has been perpetuated through the meaning
seems now lost - The Makoa have the
15half or nearly full moon but
it is they say all for ornament
{figure}
some blue stuff is rubbed in to the cuts
they say charcoal and the ornament
20shews brightly in persons of light
complexion who are common
the Makonde & Matambwe file their
front teeth to points - the Machunga
a Wayau tribe leave two points on
25the sides of the front teeth {figure} and
knock out one of the middle incisors
above and below - Their marking is
{figure} and sometimes {figure}

14th
June
1866 As much dependant on carriers as if I had
5never bought a beast of burden but this is poor
stuff to fill a journal with - Went off to Mataba
to see if chief there would lend some men
the head man Kitwanga went a long way to convoy
us there turned saying he was going to get men
10for Musa next day - We passed near the base of
the rounded masses Ngozo & Mekanga and think
from a near inspection that they are over
2000 feet above the plain - possibly 3000 feet &
nearly bare with only the peculiar grassy plant
15on some parts not very perpendicular - people
are said to have stores of grain on them - and
on one the chief said there is water - Knows of no
stone buildings of the olden time in the country -
Passed many masses of ferruginous conglomerate
20and most of the grass dips Westwards - the
striae seem as if the rock had been partially
molten and at times the strike is N. & S. at others
East & West - When we come to what may have
been its surface it is as if the striae had been
25stirred with a rod while soft -

Slept at a point of the Rovuma above a cataract
where a reach of comparatively still water #^ from 150 to 200 yards wide allows
a school of Hippopotami to live - When the
river becomes fordable in many places
30as it is said to do in August & September they
must find it difficult to live

15th Another three hours march brought us from
the sleeping place on Rovuma to Mataba the
chief of which Kinazombe is an elderly man
35with a cunning & severe cast of countenance
nose Assyrian in type - Has built a large
reception house in which a number of
half caste Arabs had taken up their abode
A great many of the people have guns - and it
40is astonishing to see the number of taming sticks
0090
84
15th
June
1866{figure} abandoned along the road as
5the poor wretches gave in and professed to
have lost all hope of escape - many huts
have been built by the Arabs to screen them-
selves from the rain as they travelled - At
Kinazombe, the second crop of maize is
10ready so the hunger will not be very
much felt -

16th Heard very sombre accounts of the country
in front - four or five days to Mtarika
and then ten days through jungle to Mataka
15Little food at Mtarika's but plenty at
Mataka who is near the Lake - The Rovuma
trends Southerly after we leave Ngozo
and Masusa on that River is pointed
out as S.W from Metaba so at Ngozo
20the river may be said to have it furthest
Northing - Masasa is said to be five days
or at least fifty miles from Metaba
the route now becomes S. W.

The cattle of Africa are like the Indian
25buffalo only partially tamed - They never
give their milk without the presence
of the calf or its stuffed skin - The "Tulchan"
The women adjacent to Mosambique partake
a little of the wild animals nature for
30like the most members of the inferior
races of animals they ^ women refuse all inter-
course with their husbands after pregnancy
is established - and they continue to avoid
the male for about three years afterward
35or until the child is weaned - which
usually happens about the third year -
I was told on most respectable authority
that many fine young native men
marry one wife and live happily
40with her till she becomes pregnant
0091
85
16th
June
1866 Nothing will induce her to continue to cohabit with
5him and as the separation is to continue for three
years the man is almost compelled to take up
with another wife - This was mentioned to me
as one of the great evils of society - The same
absurdity prevails on the West Coast and
10there it is said that the men acquiesce from
ideas of cleaness and uncleaness -

It is curious that trade Rum should form so
important an article of import on the West Coast
while it is almost unknown on the East
15Coast - The same people began the commerce
in both instances - If we look North of Cape
Delgado we might imagine that the religious
convictions of the Arabs had something to do
with the matter but the Portuguese south of
20Cape Delgado have scruples in the matter
and would sell their grandfathers with the
rum if they could make money by the
transaction - The have even erected distilleries
to furnish a vile spirit from the fruit of the
25cashew and other fruits & grain but the trade
does not succeed - they give their slaves
also rewards of spirit or "mata bicho"
"kill the creature" or craving within, and you
may meet a man who having had much
30intercourse with Portuguese may beg spirits
but the trade does not pay - the natives will
drink it if furnished gratis - The indispensible
dash of Rum - Its presence in every political
transaction with independent chiefs is
35however quite unknown - The Moslems
would certainly not abstain from trading
in spirits were they profitable - They often
asked for brandy from me in a sly
way - as medicine - and when reminded
40that their religion forbade it would say "Oh
but we can drink it in secret" -

16th
June
1866 It is something in the nature of the people
5quite inexplicable - Throughout the Makonde
country Hernia Humoralis prevails to a
frightful extent - It is believed by the natives
to be the result of beer drinking so they cannot
be considered as abstemious

Here again we have children in the arms
and others at the knee - or a woman with
a child two years old or so and pregnancy
far advanced - This too among Makoa who
are the same people with those on the
15mainland of Mosambique

18th
June
1866 Finding that Musa did not come up with the
goods I left in his charge and fearing that
20all was not right we set off with all
our hands who could carry after service
yesterday morning and after six hours
hard tramp arrived here just in time
for a tribe of Wanindi or Manindi who
25are either Gawas (Wayau) or pretended
Mazitu had tried to cross Rovuma from
North bank - They come as plunderers
and Musa having recieved no assistance
was now ready to defend the goods
30A shot or two from the people of Kitwanga
made the Wanindi desist after they had
entered the water -

Six Sepoys had come up this length -
and Simon - Reuben & Mabruki reported
35Richard to be dead - This poor boy was
left with the others at Liponde and I never
saw him again - I observed him associating
too much with the sepoys - felt inclined to
reprove him as their conversation is
40usually very bad but I could not of my
own knowledge say so - He came on
with the others as far as Hassane or Pachassane

18th June
1866 There he was too weak to come further
and as the Sepoys were notoriously skulkers
5I feared that poor Richard was led away by
them - I knew that they had made many
attempts to draw away the other Nassick boys
from their duty - When however Abraham
came up, and reported Richard left behind by
10the Sepoys I became alarmed and sent off three
boys to [...] cordials to help him on - Two days
after Abraham left he seems to have died
and I feel very sorry that I was not there
to do what I could - I am told now that he
15never consented to the Sepoy temptation
said to Abraham that he wished he were dead
He was so much trouble - People where he died
not very civil to Simon -

The Sepoys had now made themselves such
20an utter nuisance that I felt that I must take
the upper hand with them - so I called them this
morning and asked if they knew the punishment
they had incurred by disobedience of orders &
attempting to tamper with the Nassick boys to
25turn back - they not only remained in the
way when ordered to march but offered eight
Rupees to Ali to take them back - the excuse
of sickness was of naught for they had eaten
heartily three meals a day while pretending
30sickness - They had no excuse to offer so
18th
June I disrated the Naik or corporal and sentenced
the others to carry loads - If they behave then
they will get fatigue pa[ ]y for doing fatigue
35duty if ill nothing but their pay - Their
limbs are becoming contracted from sheer
idleness - While all the other men are well &
getting stronger they alone are disreputably
slovenly & useless looking - their filthy habits
40soiling all about the huts instead of going afield
0094
88
18th
June
1866 are to be reformed, and if found at
5their habit of sitting down and sleeping
for hours on the march or without
their muskets and pouches they are to be
flogged - Sent two of them back to bring
up two comrades left behind yesterday
10and another to strengthen himself by
carrying a small load on his head for
an hour - All are comparatively strong who
#have done work - I promised them fatigue
duty pay if they behaved better from this time
15forward - but none if they conducted themselves
ill -

19th June Gave Sepoys light loads in order to inure them
to exercise and strengthen them - they carried willingly
so long as the fright was on them but when the fear
20of immediate punishment wore off they began
their skulking again - One, Perim reduced his
load of about 20 lbs of tea by throwing away the
lead in which it was rolled and then about 15 lbs of
the tea thereby diminishing our stock to 5 lbs -

(19{8} (. Lighted on a telegram today ."your mother
died at noon on the 18th June" (1865) which
affected me not a little -)

Passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree
and dead - The people of the country explained
30that she had been unable to keep up with the
other slaves of a gang, and her master had deter-
-mined that after rest she should not become
the property of anyone else - I may mention
here that we saw others tied up in a similar
35manner and one lying in the path shot or
stabbed as she was in a pool of blood - the
explanation we got invariably was that the
Arab who owned these victims was enraged
at losing his money by the slaves becoming
40unable to march and vented his spleen
0095
89
by murdering them but I have nothing more than
common report in support of attributing this
enormity to the Arabs -

20th
June
1866Having returned to Metaba we were told by Kinazombe
the chief that no one had grain to sell but himself
He had plenty of powder and common cloth from
10the Arabs and our only chance with him was
parting with our finer cloths and other things
that took his fancy - He magnified the scarcity
in front in order to induce us to buy all we
could from him - but he gave me an ample
15meal of porridge & guinea fowl before starting

21st We had difficulties about carriers but on reaching
an island in Rovuma called chimiki we found
the people Makoa and more civil & willing
to work than the Waiyau and sent men back
20to bring up the Havildar to a very civil head
man called Chirikaloma

22d A poor boy with prolapsus Ani was carried
yesterday by his mother many a weary mile
lying over her right shoulder the only position he
25could find ease in - An infant at the breast occupied
the left arm and on her head were carried two
baskets - The mother's love was seen in binding up
the part when we halted, and the coarseness of low
civilization in the laugh with which some black
30brutes looked at the protruding part -

23d the country is covered with forest much more
open than further East - We are now some 800 feet
above the sea - People all cultivate maize near the
Rovuma and on islands where moisture helps
35them - Nearly all possess guns & plenty of
powder and fine beads - Red ones strung on the hair
and fine blue ones in rolls on the neck fitted
tightly like soldiers' stocks - Lip ring universal -
Teeth filed to points

24th
June
1866 Immense quantities of wood are cut down
5collected in heaps and burned to manure the land
but this does not prevent the country having an
appearance of forest - Divine service at 8-30 AM
great numbers looking on - They have a clear idea
of the Supreme being but do not pray to him - Cold
10South winds prevail - Temp . 55° - Mule very ill - was
left with Havildar when we went back to Ngozo and
was probably left uncovered at night for as soon as
we saw its illness was plainly visible - Whenever
an animal has been in their power the Sepoys
15have abused it - It is difficult to feel charitably
to fellows whose scheme seems to have been
to detach the Nassick boys from me after the
animals were all killed - and then the Johannamen
and then they could rule me as they like or
20go back and leave me to perish - but
I shall try to feel as charitably as I can in spite
of it all - the mind has a strong tendency to
brood over the ills of travel - I told the Havildar
when I came up to him at Metaba what I had
25done and that I was very much displeased
with the sepoys for compassing my failure
if not death - an unkind word had never
passed my lips to them - to this he could bear
testimony - He thought that they would only be
30a plague & trouble to me but he "would go on
and die with me" -

Stone boiling is unknown in these countries
but ovens are made in anthills & the ground
for baking the heads of large game as the zebra-
35-feet of Elephants - Humps of Rhinoceros &
the production of fire by drilling between the
palms of the hands is universal - It is quite
common to see the sticks so used attached
to the clothing or bundles in travelling - they
40wet the blunt end of the ^ upright stick with the tongue
0097
91
and dip it in the sand to make some particles
of silica adhere before inserting it in the horizontal
piece - The wood of a certain wild fig tree is
5esteemed as yielding fire readily -

But in wet weather they prefer to carry
fire in the dried balls of elephant da{u}ng which
are met with - the male's being about eight
inches in diameter and about a foot long -
10They also employ the stalk of a certain plant
which grows on rocky places for the same
purpose

We bought a senze or Aulacaudatus Swinderianus
It had been dried over a slow fire - This custom
15of drying fish flesh & fruits on stages over
slow fires is practised very generally - The use
of salt for preservation is unknown -

Besides stages for drying the Makonde use
them about six feet high for sleeping on
20these stages keep them off the damp ground -
A fire beneath helps to keep off the mosquitoes
and they are used by day as convenient
resting places & for observation

Pottery seems to have been known to the
25Africans from the remotest times for
fragments are found everywhere, and even
among the oldest fossil bones in the country -
Their pots for cooking - holding water & beer
are made by the women and the form pre-
30-served by the eye alone - no sort of [  ]{Ma}chine
is ever used - A foundation or bottom is laid
and a piece of bone or bamboo is used to
scrape it or smooth over pieces added to
increase the roundness - This is left a night
35a piece added to the rim - as the air is dry
several rounds may be added and all
carefully smoothed off, and then it is thoroughly
sun dried - a light fire of dried new dung -
0098
92
24th
June
1866 or corn stalks - or straw, and grass with
5twigs is made in a hole in the ground for
their final baking - ornaments are made on
them of black lead - or before being hardened
by the sun they are ornamented for a couple
or three inches near the rim - all orna-
10ments being in imitation of plaited basket
work

Chirikaloma says that the surname of the
Makoa to whom he belongs is Mirazi - others
have the surname Melola or Malola-chimposola
15All had the half moon mark when in the South
East but now they leave it off a good deal
and adopt the [ ]{W}aiyau {figure} marks because
living in their country - They shew no indications
of being named after beasts & birds - Mirazi
20was an ancestor and they eat all clean
animals but refuse the Hyaena - Leopard or
any beast that eats dead men

25thon leaving Chirikaloma we came on to
Namalo whose village that morning had been
25deserted the people moving off in a body
towards the Matambwe country where
food is more abundant - a poor little girl
left in one of the huts from being too weak
to walk and probably an orphan - the Arab
30slave traders flee from the path as soon as
they hear of our approach - Rovuma from
50 to 80 yards wide here - No food to be had
for either love or money -

Near many of the villages we observe
35a wand bent and both ends inserted into the
ground {figure} a lot of medicine usually the
bark of trees is buried beneath it - When
sickness is in a village - the men proceed to
the spot- wash themselves with the medicine &
40water - creep through beneath the bow then
bury the medicine and the evil influence
0099
93
25th June
1866 together - This is also used to keep off evil spirits
wild beasts & enemies -

Chirikaloma told us of a child born deformed
in his tribe - He had an abortive toe where his knee
should have been - some said to his mother "kill
him" but she replied "how can I [ ]{k}ill my son?"
and he grew up and had many fine sons &
10daughters but none deformed like himself -
This was told in connection with an answer
to my question about the treatment of Albinoes -
He said they never killed them but they never
came to anything but die before they come to
15manhood - On enquiring if he had ever heard
of Cannibals or people with tails he replied "Yes
but we have always understood that these -
and other [  ]monstrosities were met with only
among us Sea going people" - the other monstrosities
20he referred to were those who are said to have eyes
behind the head as well as in front - I have
heard of them before but then I was near
Angola in the West -

The rains are expected here when the Pleides
25appear in the East soon after sunset - they
go by the same name here as further South -
Lemila or the "hoeings" -

In the route along the Rovuma we pass among
people who are so well supplied with white
30calico by the slave trade from Kilwa that it is
quite a drug in the market - We cannot get
food for it - If we held on West wards we
should cross several rivers flowing into
the Rovuma from the Southward as the
35Zandulo, the Sanjenze - the Lochiringo and
then in going round the North end of Nyassa
go among the Nindi who now inhabit
the parts vacated by the Mazite and
imitate them in having shields and in
0100
94
25
June
1866 marauding - An Arab party went in and
5got out again only by paying a whole bale
of calico - It would not therefore be wise
in me to venture there at present by if we
return this way we may their venture
Meanwhile we shall push on to Mataka's
10who is only a few days off from the
middle of the Lake and has abundance of
provisions

26th
June Last mule died - In coming along in the
15morning we were loudly accosted by a well
dressed woman who had just had a
very heavy slave taming stick put on her neck
she called in such an authoritative tone to us
to witness the flagrant injustice of which she
20was the victim that all the men stood still
and went to hear the case - she was a near
relative of Chirikaloma, and was going up the
river to her husband when the old man at
whose house she was now a prisoner caught
25her - took her servant away from her -
and now kept her in the degraded state we
saw - the withs with which she was bound
were green & sappy - the old man said in
justification that she was running away
30from Chirikaloma, and he would be offended
with him (the old man) if he did not secure
her - I asked the officious old gentleman
in a friendly tone what he expected to recieve
from Chirikaloma - He said "Nothing"
35several slaver looking fellows came about
and I felt sure that the woman had been
seized in order to sell her to them - so I gave
the old man a cloth to pay to Chirikaloma
if he were offended, and to say that - I
40feeling ashamed to see one of his relatives
in a slave stick had released her - and would
0101
95
take her on to her husband - she is evidently a
lady among them, having many fine beads &
some strung on elephants hair - and she had a good
5deal of spirit for on being liberated she went
into the old mans house, and took her basket &
calabash - a virago of a wife shut the door &
tried to prevent her as well as cut off the beads
from her person, but she resisted like a good one
10and my men thrust the door open & let her go
but minus the slave she had - The other wife
for old officious had two, joined her sister in a
furio[  ]{us} tirade of abuse - the elder holding her
till I burst into a laugh in which the younger wife joined
15sides in regular fishwife fashion ^ - I explained
to the different headmen in front of this what
I had done and sent messages to Chirikaloma
explanatory of my friendly deed to his relative
so that no misconstruction should be put on my act -

Passed a slave woman shot or stabbed through
the body and lying on the path - a group of men
stood about a hundred yards off on one side and
another on the of women on the other side looking -
They said An Arab who passed early that morning
25had done it in anger at losing the price he had given