92 CHIKANDA-KADZE'S VILLAGE. Chap. IV, 



Lake Maravi, but nowhere is it stated that it ever was carried 

 into effect. This, we regret to say, is all the information we 

 have been able to gain on this subject from the Portuguese. 

 If we had been able to discover more particulars of their ex- 

 plorations, we certainly are not conscious of a desire to dwarf 

 them. 



Late in the afternoon of the first day's steaming, 

 after we left the wooding-place, we called at the vil- 

 lage of Chikanda-Kaclze, a female Chief, to purchase rice 

 for our men ; but we were now in the blissful region where 

 time is absolutely of no account, and where men may sit 

 down and rest themselves when tired; so they requested 

 us to wait till next day, and they would then sell us some 

 food. As our forty black men, how T ever, had nothing to cook 

 for supper, we were obliged to steam on to reach a village a 

 few miles above. When we meet those who care not whether 

 we purchase or let it alone, or who think men ought only to be 

 in a hurry when fleeing from an enemy, our ideas about time 

 being money, and the power of the purse, receive a shock. 

 The state of eager competition, which in England wears out 

 both mind and body, and makes life bitter, is here happily 

 unknown. The cultivated spots are mere dots compared to 

 the broad fields of rich soil, which is never either grazed or 

 tilled. Pity that the plenty in store for all, from our Father's 

 bountiful hands, is not enjoyed by more. 



The wretched little steamer could not carry all the hands 

 we needed ; so, to lighten her, we put some into the boats 

 and towed them astern. In the dark, one of the boats was 

 capsized ; but all in it, except one poor fellow who could not 

 swim, were picked up. His loss threw a gloom over us all, 

 and added to the chagrin we often felt at having been so ill- 

 served in our sorry craft by one of our own countrymen. Few 



