Observers' Field Reports 149 



Mburuma is a large native village of several hundred huts, but most of the native 

 kraals are small and do not compare with the clean, well-built villages of West Africa. 

 The native method of greeting the white man is rather curious. When about one-fourth 

 of a mile from a village, he is met by a crowd of women and children, who rush out with 

 shrill yells, bounding into the air and clapping their hands. They then form up around 

 the traveler and escort him into the village, singing a chorus to the accompaniment of 

 hand-clapping, some dancing along in front and calling out complimentary titles. Mean- 

 while, the chief and the men of the place assemble and sit down on the path awaiting the 

 arrival. On reaching them, each turns over sideways and smacks his hip loudly several 

 times with the hand. On meeting a native on the path, it is the custom for him to sit 

 down on the ground and go through this performance. Near Feira, a black stands still 

 as you approach and wipes his feet on the ground as if trying to get rid of a thorn. 



I reached Feira August 4, and was most hospitably entertained by Mr. L. J. Tweedy, 

 the Assistant Native Commissioner. The British post of Feira is prettily situated at the 

 junction of the Loangwo River with the Zambezi. Across the river, at the foot of a steep 

 mountain, are the ruins of Zumbo, once an important slave market. In the absence of 

 the Administrator from the Portuguese post of Zumbo, a canoe was procured through the 

 postmaster after some delay, and the trip down the Zambezi was commenced August 1 1 . 

 The Zambezi is one-half mile to one mile wide in these reaches, and has many shoals and 

 sand banks. Crocodiles and hippopotami are numerous. Here and there low sandstone 

 ridges extend down to the river, and mountain ranges are always in view. Very few native 

 villages were seen on the river bank, and the whole district was still suffering from the 

 effects of the rising in 1917, when the natives rebelled and destroyed most of the Por- 

 tuguese posts and plantations. 



About 30 kilometers below Zumbo is a station of the Zambezi Company, where a 

 supply of chickens and rice was procured for food. A further two days' paddling brings 

 one to Mague, and half a day beyond is the military fort of Cachomba. The river now 

 narrows, running between steep hills and passing through a small gorge at Mount Man- 

 herere. The Cocolola Rapids are in this gorge, but the main channel of the river is clear 

 and the run presents no special dfficulty. There is, however, an unnavigable stretch 

 below Chicoa, where I arrived August 19. From Chicoa we traveled about 95 miles 

 over a good cleared road returning to the river at Tete, the administrative center of the 

 region. Rest-houses were found, and water courses were numerous, but many of them 

 were already dry, and water was only obtainable from holes scooped in the sand. 



We arrived at Tete August 27, and found the Portuguese most hospitable and 

 helpful, as in fact we had found them wherever we met them along the route from Zumbo . 

 The town is built on the side of a low sandstone hill sloping down to the Zambezi, and is 

 well planned, with good roads and some fine buildings. River steamers ply to Chinde 

 three times a month during the high-water season, but between September and December 

 the river is very low and often there is no service. After completing the observations 

 alongside the ruins of an old sun-dial constructed by Dr. Livingstone, the journey down 

 river was continued by canoe to Chindio, the terminus of the Nyassaland Railway, 

 whence there are frequent river steamers to Chinde. An unpleasant feature of the 

 trip was the very powerful sun and the strong easterly winds which prevailed every 

 afternoon, preventing the erection of a shelter against the sun's rays. In these reaches, 

 as above Chicoa, the river is a mile wide, and has many shoals through which the crew 

 must force the canoe. Some 30 miles below Tete is the Lupata Gorge, in which the river 

 is hemmed by picturesque sandstone ranges for about 25 miles. At Bandar and Ankuaze, 

 the district was infested by man-eating lions. A few days before our arrival at the former 

 place, two lions had broken into a hut and eaten a native, and the villagers were con- 

 sequently living in a state of terror. On two occasions lions were prowling around the 

 camp at night. They did not attack, but, after roaring considerably, went away. 



