A Thousand Miles in a MachiUa 



Alala tribe who inhabit the Luambwa valley were of 

 a lower type than any natives except perhaps the 

 Achepeta that we had hitherto met with in our 

 African travels ; so far as we could judge, their 

 intellects were of the feeblest description. They 

 seemed to have but little general knowledge of the 

 country, and the "next village," beyond which they 

 had the greatest objection to travel, appeared to be 

 their ultima thulc. These stay-at-home habits may 

 doubtless be traced to the days when the district 

 was continually harried by their more warlike 

 neighbours, the Angonies and Wawembe. They 

 seemed to be hunters, yet could give no information 



about game. A met a man in the forest one 



afternoon returning to his village laden with honey 

 and the meat of a freshly killed reedbuck, and 

 several skins, among them a serval which he had 

 speared. He at first promised great things, but 

 soon contradicted himself, and though invited to 

 camp, failed to turn up. 



The men of the Alala tribe w r ere not, as a 

 rule, bad looking; and if Nature intends that their 

 intellects should rise above their present level, 

 peace, good government, contact with the world, 

 and inducements to labour may in time improve 

 them. 



The district appeared to be sparsely inhabited, 

 and the villages exclusively confined to the left 

 bank of the Luambwa. Keeping villages to one 

 side may be in the interest of forest preservation, 

 or to facilitate the collection of hut-tax. There 

 was but little cultivation, just a few clearings 



