Chap. XXIX. BAKWAIX THEORY OF BAIN. 595 



country of the Basenga, who are said to be great workers in iron, 

 and to possess abundance of fine iron-ore, which, when broken, 

 shows veins of the pure metal in its substance. It has been 

 well roasted in the operations of nature. Beyond Senga lies a 

 range of mountains called Mashinga, to which the Portuguese 

 in former times went to wash for gold, and beyond that, are 

 great numbers of tribes which pass under the general term 

 Maravi. To the N.E. there are extensive plains destitute of 

 trees, but covered with grass, and in some places it is marshy. 

 The whole of the countiy to the north of the Zambesi is asserted 

 to be very much more fertile than that to the south. The Maravi, 

 for instance, raise sweet potatoes of immense size, but when these 

 are planted on the southern bank they soon degenerate. The 

 root of this plant (convolvulus batala) does not keep more than 

 two or three days, unless it is cut into thin slices and dried in the 

 sun, but the Maravi manage to preserve them for months by 

 digging a pit and burying them therein enclosed in wood-ashes. 

 Unfortunately, the Maravi, and all the tribes on that side of the 

 country, are at enmity with the Portuguese, and, as they practise 

 night attacks in their warfare, it is dangerous to travel among 

 them. 



29£A. — I was most sincerely thankful to find myself on the 

 south bank of the Zambesi, and, having nothing else, I sent back 

 one of my two spoons and a shirt as a thank-offering to Mpende. 

 The different head-men along this river act very much in concert, 

 and if one refuses passage they all do, uttering the sage remark, 

 " If so-and-so did not lend his canoes, he must have had some 

 good reason." The next island we came to, was that of a man 

 named Mozinkwa. Here we were detained some days by con- 

 tinuous rains, and thought we observed the confirmation of the 

 Bakwain theory of rains. A double tier of clouds floated quickly 

 away to the west, and as soon as they began to come in an oppo- 

 site direction the rains poured down. The inhabitants who live 

 in a dry region like that of Kolobeng are nearly all as weather- 

 wise as the rainmakers, and any- one living amongst them for 

 any length of time, becomes as much interested in the motions 

 of the clouds as they are themselves. Mr. Moffat, who was as 

 sorely tried by droughts as we were, and had his attention directed 

 in the same way, has noted the curious phenomenon of thunder 



2 q 2 



