Lilongwe to Fort Jameson 



circular Euphorbia plantations, so dense that cannon 

 would be required to force an entrance. 



The fear of these Angonie raiding parties 

 confined the Achepeta to the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of their villages, and to this is probably due 

 the extraordinary ignorance they have of the country 

 in which they live, and the extreme disinclination 

 they show to leaving their homes, even to guide 

 one only to the next village. They are possibly 

 descendants of slaves from the interior liberated 

 by Livingstone in 1859. If so, this would account 

 for their timidity. It is curious, however, that a 

 generation of peace should not have done more to 

 improve them. I cannot help thinking that their 

 type must be a hopelessly low one. 



The native houses here, as in other parts of 

 Africa, are built of tree trunks placed close together 

 and plastered with mud. The roofs are made of 

 plaited basket work thatched with long grass ; 

 they are conical in shape, and are hoisted into 

 position after being put together on the ground. 

 Outside each village there are pigeon and chicken 

 houses made of the same pattern, and also, what I 

 took to be beehives, but which proved to be 

 miniature houses erected as homes for the spirits of 

 departed worthies. Each man has a presiding 

 spirit, and it is his duty to propitiate it by 

 offerings. 



There are large circular granaries of plaited 

 basket-work on the outskirts of most villages, out 

 of which the elephants freely feed when in the 

 neighbourhood. They always come by night, and 



87 



