30 BURDEN OF TRIBUTE. Chap. I. 



Mutu, have a bad name among the Portuguese ; they are 

 said to be expert thieves, and the merchants sometimes 

 suffer from their adroitness while the goods are in transit 

 from one river to the other. In general they are trained 

 canoe-men, and man many of the canoes that ply thence 

 to Senna and Tette ; their pay is small, and, not trusting 

 the traders, they must always have it before they start. 

 Africans being prone to assign plausible reasons for their 

 conduct, like white men ia more enlightened lands, it is 

 possible they may be goodhumouredly giving their reason 

 for insisting on being invariably paid in advance in the 

 words of their favourite canoe-song, " Uachingere, Uachingere 

 Kale," "You cheated me of old;" or, "Thou art slippery, 

 slippery truly." 



The Landeens or Zulus are lords of the right bank of the 

 Zambesi ; and the Portuguese, by paying this fighting tribe a 

 pretty heavy annual tribute, practically admit this. Eegularly 

 every year come the Zulus in force to Senna and Shupanga 

 for their accustomed tribute. The few wealthy merchants of 

 Senna groan under the burden, for it falls chiefly on them. 

 They submit to pay annually 200 pieces of cloth, of sixteen 

 yards each, besides beads and brass wire, knowing that 

 refusal involves war, which might end in the loss of all they 

 possess. The Zulus appear to keep as sharp a look-out on 

 the Senna and Shupanga people as ever landlord did on 

 tenant ; the more they cultivate, the more tribute they 

 have to pay. On asking some of them why they did not 

 endeavour to raise certain highly profitable products, we were 

 answered, " What's the use of our cultivating any more than 

 we do ? the Landeens would only come down on us for more 

 tribute." 



In the forests of Shupanga the Mokunclu-kundu tree 



