DEMAND FOR GUNPOWDER AND CALICO. 357 



that the weak and helpless may injure them by their medical 

 knowledge. They have many fears. A man at one of the 

 villages we came to showed us the grave of his child, and, 

 with much apparent feeling, told us she had been burned to 

 death in her hut. He had come with all his family, and built 

 huts around it in order to weep for her. He thought, if the 

 grave were left unwatched, the witches would come and bewitch 

 them by putting medicines on the body. They have a more de- 

 cided belief in the continued existence of departed spirits than 

 any of the more southerly tribes. Even the Barotse possess it in 

 a strong degree, for one of my men of that tribe, on experiencing 

 headache, said, with a sad and thoughtful countenance, " My fa- 

 ther is scolding me because I do not give him any of the food I 

 eat." I asked where his father was. " Among the Barimo," was 

 the reply. 



When we wished to move on, Kabinje refused a guide to the 

 next village because he was at war with it ; but, after much 

 persuasion, he consented, provided that the guide should be al- 

 lowed to return as soon as he came in sight of the enemy's vil- 

 lage. This we felt to be a misfortune, as the people all suspect 

 a man who comes telling his own tale ; but there being no help 

 for it, we went on, and found the head man of a village on the riv- 

 ulet Kalomba, called Kangenke, a very different man from what 

 his enemy represented. We found, too, that the idea of buying 

 and selling took the place of giving for friendship. As I had 

 nothing with which to purchase food except a parcel of beads 

 which were preserved for worse times, I began to fear that we 

 should soon be compelled to suffer more from hunger than we had 

 done. The people demanded gunpowder for every thing. If we 

 had possessed any quantity of that article, we should have got on 

 well, for here it is of great value. On our return, near this spot 

 we found a good-sized fowl was sold for a single charge of gun- 

 powder. Next to that, English calico was in great demand, and 

 so were beads ; but money was of no value whatever. Gold is 

 quite unknown ; it is thought to be brass ; trade is carried on by 

 barter alone. The people know nothing of money. A purse- 

 proud person would here feel the ground move from beneath his 

 feet. Occasionally a large piece of copper, in the shape of a St. 

 Andrew's cross, is offered for sale. 



