486 AFRICAN MOUNTAINEERS. 



lovely and rich in the extreme. All the foliage is fresh-washed 

 and clean ; young herbage is bursting through the ground ; the 

 air is deliciously cool, and the birds are singing joyfully : one, 

 called Mzie, is a good songster, with a loud, melodious voice." 



The charms of nature multiplied about him as he advanced ; at 

 every village, however, there was the unwelcome news of " no 

 food." The ravages of the Mazitu met them again. The inhabi- 

 tants had generally resorted to the custom of surrounding their 

 homes by stockades, and in their extremity, like true mountaineers, 

 as they were, would fly to their rocky fastnesses and from the safe 

 cliffs wage a most effectual war on their assailants with huge stones 

 — the artillery of mountain clans in all ages — which they knew 

 w r ell how to hurl down along the familiar paths. Crossing the 

 Sandili, it was found that the route lay along the slope which 

 inclines to the Loangwa, and very soon the mountains were 

 towering behind, and a comparatively level country stretched 

 away toward the north, covered with a sylvan foliage which 

 might easiry deceive the most practised eye if viewed only from 

 a distance. The seeming forests of stately trees on nearer ap- 

 proach dwindled into mere hop-poles. Vast districts were found 

 to be kept clothed with a growth of these poles, but the mystery 

 was easily solved when it was noticed that the whole domain 

 was swarming with charcoal burners. 



On the 24th of November Livingstone entered Zeore's village, 

 on the banks of a stream of insignificant appearance, called 

 Lokuzhwa, flowing away toward the Loangwa through a splen- 

 did valley distinguished by its rich, dark red loam, above which 

 innumerable lilies of the amaryllis kind had woven their pure 

 white blossoms into a snowy carpet. The people of the village 

 called themselves Echewa, and, though a tribe of the Manganja, 

 were distinguished by a different marking from the Atumboka, 

 who dwelt more among the hills. 



The formidable appearance of the stockade had secured this 

 village from the assaults of the Mazitu, who came only and 

 looked on it and departed ; and as the people had food to sell, 

 Dr. Livingstone decided to remain there over Sunday. Of this 

 people he says : " The men have the hair dressed as if a number 

 of the hairs of elephants' tails were stuck around the head : the 

 women wear a small lip-ring, and a straw or piece of stick in the 



