Chap. XXffl. CHEAPNESS OF FOOD. 455 



feel glad when the path comes into the shade. The want of life 

 in the scenery made me long to tread again the banks of the 

 Zambesi, and see the graceful antelopes feeding beside the dark 

 buffaloes and sleek elands. Here hippopotami are known to 

 exist only by their footprints on the banks. Not one is ever seen 

 to blow or put his head up at all ; they liave learned to breathe 

 in silence, and keep out of sight. We never heard one uttering 

 the snorting sound so common on the Zambesi. 



We crossed two small streams, the Kanesi and Fombeji, before 

 reaching Cabango, a village situated on the banks of the Chi- 

 hombo. The country was becoming more densely peopled as we 

 proceeded, but it bears no population compared to what it might 

 easily sustain. Provisions were to be had in great abundance ; a 

 fowl and basket of meal weighing 20 lbs. were sold for a yard and 

 a half of very inferior cotton-cloth, worth not more than three 

 pence. An idea of the cheapness of food may be formed from 

 the fact, that Captain Neves purchased 380 lbs. of tobacco from 

 the Bangalas, for about two pounds sterling. This, when carried 

 into central Londa, might purchase seven thousand five hundred 

 fowls, or feed with meal and fowls seven thousand persons for one 

 day, giving each a fowl and 5 lbs. of meal. When food is pur- 

 chased here with either salt or coarse calico, four persons can be 

 well fed with animal and vegetable food at the rate of one penny 

 a day. The chief vegetable food is the manioc and lotsa meal. 

 These contain a very large proportion of starch, and when eaten 

 alone for any length of time, produce most distressing heartburn. 

 As we ourselves experienced in coming north, they also cause a 

 weakness of vision, which occurs in the case of animals fed on 

 pure gluten or amyllaceous matter only. I now discovered that 

 when these starchy substances are eaten along with a proportion 

 of ground-nuts, which contain a considerable quantity of oil, no 

 injirrions effects follow. 



While on the way to Cabango, we saw fresh tracks of elands, 

 the first we had observed in this country. A poor little slave- 

 girl, being ill, turned aside in the path, and, though we waited 

 all the next day making search for her, she was lost. She was 

 tall and slender for her age, as if of too quick growth, and pro- 

 bably, unable to bear the fatigue of the march, lay down and slept 

 in the forest, then, waking in the dark, went farther and farther 



