570 REMEDY AGAINST TSETSE. 



trophy, the different chiefs vieing with each other as to which 

 should mount the greatest number of skulls in his village. 



If, as has been asserted, the Portuguese ever had a chain of 

 trading stations across the country from Caconda to Tete, it must 

 have passed through these people ; but the total ignorance of the 

 Zambesi flowing from north to south in the centre of the country, 

 and the want of knowledge of the astonishing falls of Victoria, 

 which excite the wonder of even the natives, together with the 

 absence of any tradition of such a chain of stations, compel me 

 to believe that they existed only on paper. This conviction is 

 strengthened by the fact that when a late attempt was made 

 to claim the honor of crossing the continent for the Portu- 

 guese, the only proof advanced was the journey of two black 

 traders formerly mentioned, adorned with the name of "Portu- 

 guese." If a chain of stations had existed, a few hundred names 

 of the same sort might easily have been brought forward ; and 

 such is the love of barter among all the central Africans, that, 

 had there existed a market for ivory, its value would have become 

 known, and even that on the graves of the chiefs would not have 

 been safe. 



When about to leave Moyara on the 25th, he brought a root 

 which, when pounded and sprinkled over the oxen, is believed to 

 disgust the tsetse, so that it flies off without sucking the blood. 

 He promised to show me the plant or tree if I would give him an 

 ox ; but, as we were traveling, and could not afford the time re- 

 quired for the experiment, so as not to be cheated (as I had too 

 often been by my medical friends), I deferred the investigation till 

 I returned. It is probably but an evanescent remedy, and capa- 

 ble of rendering the cattle safe during one night only. Moyara is 

 now quite a dependent of the Makololo, and my new party, not 

 being thoroughly drilled, forced him to carry a tusk for them. 

 When I relieved him, he poured forth a shower of thanks at being 

 allowed to go back to sleep beneath his skulls. 



Next day we came to Namilanga, or "The Well of Joy." It is 

 a small well dug beneath a very large fig-tree, the shade of which 

 renders the water delightfully cool. The temperature through the 

 day was 104° in the shade and 94° after sunset, but the air was 

 not at all oppressive. This well received its name from the fact 

 that, in former times, marauding parties, in returning with cattle, 



