SUPERSTITIOUS CUSTOMS. 191 



the plant and spread close to the fire until they are quite 

 dry and crisp ; they are then put into a snuff-box, which, 

 with a little pestle, serves the purpose of a mill to grind 

 them into powder : it is then used as snuff. As we sat by 

 the fiie, the ambassadors communicated their thoughts 

 freely respecting the customs of their race. When a chiel 

 dies, a number of servants are slaughtered with him to 

 form his company in the other world. The Barotse followed 

 the same custom; and this and other usages show them to 

 be genuine negroes, though neither they nor the Balonda 

 resemble closely the typical form of that people. Quen- 

 dende said if he were present on these occasions he would 

 hide his people, so that they might not be slaughtered. 

 As we go north, the people become more bloodily super- 

 stitious. 



We were assured that if the late Matiamvo took a fancy 

 to any thing, — such, for instance, as my watch-chain, which 

 was of silver wire, and was a great curiosity, as they had 

 never seen metal plaited before, — he would order a whole 

 village to be brought up to buy it from a stranger. When 

 a slave-trader visited him, he took possession of all his 

 goods; then, after ten days or a fortnight, he would send" 

 out a party of men to pounce upon some considerable 

 village, and, having killed the head-men, would pay for all 

 the goods by selling the inhabitants. This has frequently 

 been the case, and nearly all the visitants he ever had were 

 men of color. On asking if Matiamvo did not know he 

 was a man, and would be judged, in company with those 

 he destroyed, by a Lord who is no respecter of persons, 

 the ambassador replied, "We do not go up to God, as j-ou 

 do : we are put into the ground." I could not ascertain 

 that even those who have, such a distinct perception of the 

 continued existence of departed spirits had any notion of 

 neaven : they appear to imagine the souls to be always 

 near the place of sepulture. 



After crossing the river Lotembwa, we travelled about 

 eight miles, and came to Katema's straggling town, (lat. 



