290 SLAVE-TRADERS. Chap. XVI. 



found the town embowered in banana and other tropical trees 

 having great expansion of leaf; the streets are straight, and 

 present a complete contrast to those of the Bechuanas, which 

 are all very tortuous. Here too we first saw native huts with 

 square walls and round roofs. The fences or walls of the courts, 

 which surround the huts, are wonderfully straight, and made of 

 upright poles a few inches apart, with strong grass or leafy 

 bushes neatly woven between. In the courts were small planta- 

 tions of tobacco, and a little solanaceous plant which the Balonda 

 use as a relish, also sugar-cane and bananas. Many of the poles 

 have grown again, and trees of the Ficus indica family have been 

 planted around, in order to give to the inhabitants a grateful 

 shade ; they regard this tree with some sort of veneration as a 

 medicine or charm. Goats were browsing about, and, when we 

 made our appearance, a crowd of negroes, all fully armed, ran 

 towards us as if they would eat us up ; some had guns, but the 

 manner in which they were held, showed that the owners were 

 more accustomed to bows and arrows, than to white men's 

 weapons. After surrounding and staring at us for an hour, they 

 began to disperse. 



The two native Portuguese traders of whom we had heard, had 

 erected a little encampment opposite the place where ours was 

 about to be made. One of them, whose spine had been injured 

 in youth, a rare sight in this country, came and visited us. I 

 returned the visit next morning. His tall companion had that 

 sickly yellow hue winch made hini look fairer than myself, but 

 his head was covered with a crop of unmistakeable wool. They 

 had a gang of young female slaves in a chain, hoeing the ground 

 in front of their encampment to clear it of weeds and grass ; 

 these were purchased recently in Lobale, whence the traders had 

 now come. There were many Mambari with them, and the 

 establishment was conducted with that military order which 

 pervades all the arrangements of the Portuguese colonists. A 

 drum was beaten, and trumpet sounded at certain hours, quite in 

 military fashion. It was the first time most of my men had seen 

 slaves in chains. " They are not men I" they exclaimed (mean- 

 ing they are beasts), " who treat their children so ! " 



The Balonda are real negroes, having much more wool on their 

 heads and bodies than any of the Bechuana or Caffre tribes. 



