WELCOME FROM SHINTE. 305 



their food, and Katema was not behindhand. "When ho 

 visited our encampment, I presented him with a cloak of 

 red baize, ornamented with gold tinsel, which cost thirty 

 shillings, according to the promise I had made in going to 

 Londa; also a cotton robe, both large and small beads, an 

 iron spoon, and a tin pannikin containing a quarter of a 

 pound of powder. He seemed greatly pleased with the 

 liberality shown, and assured me that the way was mine, 

 and that no one should molest me in it if he could help it. 



Leaving Katema's town on the 19th, and proceeding 

 four miles to the eastward, we forded the southern branch 

 of Lake Dilolo. We found it a mile and a quarter broad; 

 and, as it flows into the Lotembwa, the lake would seem 

 to be a drain of the surrounding flats, and to partake of 

 the character of a fountain. The ford was waist deep, and 

 very difficult, from the masses of arum and rushes through 

 which we waded. Going to the eastward about three 

 miles, we came to the Southern Lotembwa itself, running 

 in a valley two miles broad. It is here eighty or ninety 

 yards wide, and contains numerous islands covered with 

 dense sylvan vegetation. 



We traversed the extended plain on the north bank of 

 the Leeba, and crossed this river a little farther on at Kan- 

 yonke's village, which is about twenty miles west of the 

 Peri Hills, our former ford. The first stage beyond the 

 Leeba was at the rivulet Loamba, by the village of Che- 

 bende, nephew of Shinte; and next day we met Chebende 

 himself returning from the funeral of Samoana, his father. 

 He was thin and haggard-looking compared to what he 

 had been before, — the probable effect of the orgies in which 

 he had been engaged. 



We reached our friend Shinte, and received a hearty 

 welcome from this friendly old man, and abundant pro- 

 visions of the best he had. On hearing a report of the 

 journey given by my companions, and receiving a piece 

 of cotton cloth about two yards square, he said, " These 

 Blambari cheat us by bringing little pieces only; but the 

 U 2C* 



