XXVIII.] ESCAPE OF A SLAVE-GANG. 367 



lowers did not regard the change in temperature with the same August, 

 pleasure. ^^"^4. 



Until the 18th of August we continued marching through 

 many swamps, and crossing, rivers, chiefly flowing to the Zam- 

 besi. The few villages on the way had been recently estab- 

 lished by Lovale people, who are rapidly pushing farther east. 



The inhabitants carried guns ; and the Bihe men, so brave and 

 bold among the natives of Urua, who had no better weapons 

 than bows and arrows and spears, were here extremely mild, 

 and frightened to say or do any thing which might offend, and 

 submitted to the most unreasonable demands without a murmur. 



The escape of a gang of slaves detained us, much to my an- 

 noyance, within one march of Kafundango, the first district in 

 Lovale proper. 



I had nothing but rice and beans to eat, and I was told that 

 at Kafundango food was most plentiful, which was a trifle tan- 

 talizing to a hungry man. 



We arrived there the following day, and found it a district 

 with numerous small villages. The huts were well built and 

 of various shapes, the strips of bark tying the bundles of grass 

 which formed the walls being so disposed as to form patterns. 



For a piece of salt I obtained one fowl; but the people 

 would not even look at my remaining beads, being very eager 

 for cloth, of which I had none for trading. My only stoi'es 

 were a few beads and seven or eight viongwa, or shell orna- 

 ments, from the East Coast. But these I was obliged to retain 

 for the purpose of buying fish with which to pay our way to 

 Bihe. 



During this halt, another string of twenty slaves belonging 

 to Coimbra ran away, and a day was lost in waiting while he 

 looked for them ; but the search, I am happy to say, was fruit- 

 less. 



I had noticed the bad condition of this gang several times on 

 the road, the poor wretches being travel-worn and half starved, 

 and having large sores caused by their loads and the blows and 

 cuts they received. The ropes that confined them were also, 

 in some instances, eating into their flesh. And I saw one wom- 

 an still carrying the infant that had died in her arms of star- 

 vation. 



27 



