218 THE MAMBABI. Chap. XII. 



countries he traversed. The year of our arrival is dignified by 

 the name of the year when the white men came, or of Sebitu- 

 ane's death ; but they prefer the former, as they avoid, if pos- 

 sible, any direct reference to the departed. After my wife's first 

 visit, great numbers of children were named Ma-Robert, or 

 mother of Robert, her eldest child ; others were named Gun, 

 Horse, Waggon, Monare, Jesus, &c. ; but though our names, and 

 those of the native Portuguese who came in 1853, were adopted, 

 there is not a trace of anything of the sort having happened 

 previously among the Barotse : the visit of a white man is such a 

 remarkable event, that, had any taken place during the last three 

 hundred years, there must have remained some tradition of it. 



But Santuru was once visited by the Mambari, and a distinct 

 recollection of that visit is retained. They came to purchase 

 slaves, and both Santuru and Ins head men refused them per- 

 mission to buy any of the people. The Makololo quoted this 

 precedent when speaking of the Mambari, and said that they, 

 as the present masters of the country, had as good a right to 

 expel them as Santuru. The Mambari reside near Bihe, under 

 an Ambonda chief named Kangombe. They profess to use the 

 slaves for domestic purposes alone. 



Some of these Mambari visited us while at Naliele. They 

 are of the Ambonda family, which inhabits the country south- 

 east of Angola, and speak the Bunda dialect, which is of 

 the same family of languages with the Barotse, Bayeiye, 

 &c, or those black tribes comprehended under the general 

 term Makalaka. They plait their hair in three-fold cords, 

 and lay them carefully down around the sides of the head. 

 They are quite as dark as the Barotse, but have among them a 

 number of half-castes, with their peculiar yellow sickly hue. 

 On inquiring why they had fled on my approach to Linyanti, 

 they let me know that they had a vivid idea of the customs of 

 English cruisers on the coast. They showed also their habits 

 in their own country by digging up and eating, even here where 

 large game abounds, the mice and moles which infest the 

 country. The half-castes, or native Portuguese, could all read 

 and write, and the head of the party, if not a real Portuguese, 

 had European hair, and, influenced probably by the letter of 

 recommendation which I held from the Chevalier Duprat, His 



