PROM TETE TO FORT JAMESON. 6l 



Natives can never come to any arrangement over anything without a long 

 talk, and, as in other lands, the gentler sex usually put in their fair share of 

 the chattering. 



I reached the valley of the Mangazi stream on the 27th, passing through 

 higher and more hilly country before I got there. I saw very little game, but 

 an old male baboon sat on a rock and seemed interested to see us pass. As his 

 mortal remains would have been of no use to me I left him in peace. 



In the villages in this valley the Portuguese were busy collecting sonko 

 (hut-tax), and frequent screams, and the wailing of women and children, showed 

 that their presence was anything but appreciated. Near the British border line 

 few villages will be found on the Portuguese side, as most of the natives have 

 thought it advisable to live under a more settled and better regulated form 

 of Government than is to be found in Portuguese territory. Their system of 

 prazos is often iniquitous, for the holder of the prazo tries to squeeze as much 

 as possible out of the poor native, whose only way of escape is to emigrate into 

 British territory, where, after paying his annual hut-tax, he is free to do what 

 he likes. 



While walking along on the 28th, I crossed fairly recent buffalo spoor, so sent my 

 carriers on to the nearest village and followed the buffalo. After spending some 

 hours at it, the spoor brought me round again and crossed the path, so I gave it up 

 and went on to find my loads. The natives in Portuguese territory kill the game, as 

 the Portuguese themselves are not often very fond of the hard exercise that big game 

 shooting entails. In many parts of the bush I came on newly made pitfalls, and in 

 some villages saw numbers of game nets and dogs. Some of these nets were very 

 strong, and I should imagine would hold any animal except elephant, rhino, buffalo, 

 and eland. They set .up the nets in narrow places and drive the country with their 

 dogs. Often they will make long fences of logs and branches, which form wings, the 

 nets being placed at the apex. A few men, armed with spears and bows and 

 arrows, will conceal themselves near and kill the game when it gets entangled in 

 the nets. 



Unless in parts of Portuguese territory that are uninhabited, I have always found 

 game very scarce, and when seen extremely wary. 



On several occasions I have seen natives shoot at a buck with a bow and arrow, 

 but I never saw them kill anything ; and I believe they get most of the game with the 

 help of their nets and pariah-like dogs. Although these animals look thin and 

 starved, they have great powers of endurance, and help their masters to kill many a 

 pig and small antelope. Natives invariably treat their dogs shamefully, and at the 



