202 TEIAL FOE MUEDEE. 



very deep. Pitsaue stood on the bank, gazing with apparent 

 indifference on the stream, and made an accurate observation 

 of where the canoes were hidden among the reeds. The ferry- 

 men casually asked one of my Batoka if they had rivers in his 

 country, and he answered with truth, 'No, we have none.' 

 Kawawa's people then felt sure they could not cross. They 

 thought of swimming when they were gone ; but after it was 

 dark, by the unasked loan of one of the hidden canoes, they 

 soon were snug in bivouac on the southern bank of the Kasai. 

 They left some beads as payment for some meal which had been 

 presented by the ferrymen ; and, the canoe having been left on 

 their own side of the river, Pitsane and his companions laughed 

 uproariously at the disgust our enemies would feel, and their 

 perplexity as to who had been our paddler across. They were 

 quite sure that Kawawa would imagine that they had been 

 ferried over by his own people, and would be divining to find 

 out who had done the deed. When ready to depart in the 

 morning, Kawawa's people appeared on the opposite heights, 

 and could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw we were 

 prepared to start away to the south. At last one of them called 

 out, 'Ah ! ye are bad ; ' to which Pitsane and his companions 

 retorted, ' Ah ! ye are good, and we thank you for the loan of 

 your canoe.' " 



In the town of this chief Livingstone witnessed a specimen 

 of justice, which illustrates one feature of the misery of the 

 people whose whole destinies depend on the will of petty chiefs 

 as distinguished for heartlessness as for ignorance. The chief 

 was judge, jury, and attorney, all in himself. The arraigned 

 was a woman who was accused of having caused the death of 

 another woman. The accuser was telling her story, when the 

 " court," who had paid no attention to the statement, except 

 simply to notice the nature of the charge, suddenly burst forth, 

 "You have killed one of my children, yours are mine, bring 

 them all to me," and the poor woman had to obey and see all 

 of her children pass into slavery. While these tribes mani- 

 fested a somewhat belligerent spirit to our party, they are gen- 

 erally quite disinclined to settle their personal disputes by force 

 of arms. But now and then individuals among the Balonda 

 are known to clinch. On one occasion, an old woman standing 



