"WHITE KAFFIRS" 289 



influence of years of solitude, took unto himself a 

 wife, a comely half-caste lady, through whose family 

 influence he succeeded in obtaining possession of 

 two or three head of cattle. By judicious manage- 

 ment he also found himself enabled to settle upon 

 a small but very fertile piece of land close to the 

 Zambezi, upon which he built a large and by no 

 means uncomfortable native house, planted a 

 number of coconut palms, and for a number of 

 years — until his death, in fact — lived a primitive 

 but by no means unenviable existence. He went 

 down to Chinde from time to time, and was much 

 esteemed by his countrymen in that place. Still, 

 although he did not go so far as to discard European 

 garb, or live wholly removed from human society 

 as in the case of the first individual mentioned, 

 there can be no doubt that his manner of life and 

 unintellectual surroundings had caused at the time 

 of his death very appreciable deterioration in his 

 mental faculties. 



There are, I beheve, several such men as the 

 above even now leading the sort of life on the 

 banks of the Zambezi which has gained for them 

 the distinctive by-name of " white kaffirs " ; but the 

 subject is a sad one, and perhaps sufficient reference 

 has already been made to it. 



On the island formed by the Zambezi, Shird, 

 and Zui-Zuie Rivers, to which some allusion was 

 made in a preceding chapter, a very important 

 and energetic attempt is in progress by a French 

 syndicate to cultivate cotton, sugar, and other pro- 

 ducts, and, I believe, with every prospect of final 

 success. Certainly, if the venture attain to any- 



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