VILLAGE OF IONGA PANZA. 221 



secure the good-will of the rulers. The independent chiefs, 

 not knowing why their favor is so eagerly sought, become 

 excessively proud and supercilious in their demands, and 

 look upon white men with the greatest contempt. To such 

 lengths did the Bangala, a tribe near to which we had now 

 approached, proceed a few years ago, that they compelled 

 the Portuguese traders to pay for water, wood, and even 

 grass, and every possible pretext was invented for levying 

 fines; and these were patiently submitted to so long as the 

 slave-trade continued to flourish. We had unconsciously 

 come in contact with a system which was quite unknown 

 in the country from which my men had set out. An 

 English trader may there hear a demand for payment of 

 guides, but never, so far as I am aware, is he asked to pay 

 for leave to traverse a country. The idea does not seem 

 to have entered the native mind, except through slave- 

 traders; for the aborigines all acknowledge that the un- 

 tilled land, not needed for pasturage, belongs to God alone, 

 and that no harm is done by people passing through it. 1 

 rather believe that, wherever the slave-trade has not pene- 

 trated, the visits of strangers are esteemed a real privilege 



The village of old Ionga Panza (lat. 10° 25' S., long. 20 l 

 15' E.) is small, and embowered in lofty evergreen trees, 

 which were hung around with fine festoons of creepers 

 He sent us food immediately, and soon afterward a goat, 

 which was considered a handsome gift, there being but few 

 domestic animals, though the country is well adapted for 

 them. I suspect this, like the country of Shinte and Ka- 

 tema, must have been a tsetse district, and only recently 

 rendered capable of supporting other domestic animals be- 

 sides the goat by the destruction of the game through the 

 extensive introduction of fire-arms. We mi<xht all have 

 been as ignorant of the existence of this insect-plague a? 

 the Portuguese, had it not been for the numerous migra- 

 tions of pastoral tribes which took place in the south in 

 consequence of Zulu irruptions. 



During these exciting scenes I always forgot my fever; 



19* 



