480 A HERD OF BUFFALOES. 



stream flowing into the Bua. The rivulets on the west flow in 

 deep defiles, and the elevation on which they travel makes it 

 certain that no water can come from the lower lands on the west. 

 It seems that the Portuguese in travelling to Casembe did not 

 inquire of the people where the streams they crossed went, for 

 they are often wrongly put, and indicate the direction only in 

 which they appeared to be flowing at their crossing places. The 

 natives have a good idea generally of the rivers into which the 

 streams flow, though they are very deficient in information as 

 to the condition of the people that live on their banks. Some 

 of the Portuguese questions must have been asked through slaves, 

 who would show no hesitation in answering. Maxinga, or 

 Machinga, means " mountains " only ; once or twice it is put 

 down Saxa de Maxinga, or Machinga, or Mcanga, which, trans- 

 lated from the native tongue, means " rocks of mountains, or 

 mountains of rocks." 



November 10th found Livingstone at the " Village of 

 Smiths ;" here he readily got five men to go back after his loads. 

 The sound of the hammer is constant from dawn till sunset. A 

 herd of buffaloes came near the village and Livingstone went 

 out and shot one, thus getting meat for his party and the vil- 

 lagers. During the night a lion came and gave a loud growl, and 

 finding he could not get the meat went off; the people kept up 

 a shouting for hours afterward in order to keep him away by 

 the human voice. They had nets loaned them to protect their 

 provisions from any kind of intruders. They might have gone 

 on, but Livingstone had a galled heel and could not travel. 

 Here he speaks of unld figs, which are nice when quite ripe. 



The people at Kalumbi, on the Mando, once boasted a formid- 

 able stockade of wild fig and euphobia surrounding their village; 

 but though it withstood the assaults of men, even repelling the 

 warlike Mazitu, it fell before elephants and buffaloes, which 

 made an attack during the absence of the villagers. There are 

 many of the larger wild animals in this region, and it was not 

 uncommon to see the poor huts of the natives broken in and 

 even entirely destroyed by elephants ; and there are sad stories 

 of lions breaking into these frail tenements and waging cruel 

 war on their occupants. Often the first intimation a family has 

 of the danger is the crashing of the monster through the thatch 



