Chap. V. CUTANEOUS DISEASES. 119 



hips." "Did you never," lie was asked, "have a fit of travelling 

 come over you ; a desire to see other lands and people ? " No, 

 he had never felt that, and had never been far from home in 

 his life. For long life they are not indebted to frequent 

 ablutions. An old man told us that he remembered to have 

 washed once in his life, but it was so long since that he 

 had forgotten how it felt. "Why do you wash?" asked 

 Chinsunse's women of the Makololo ; " our men never do." 



On the Upper Shire Valley, a man, after favouring us with 

 some queer geographical remarks, followed us for several 

 days. The Makololo became very much annoyed with him, 

 for he proclaimed in every village we entered — " These people 

 have wandered ; they do not know where they are going." 

 In vain did they scold and order him away. As soon as we 

 started, he appeared again in the line of march, with his 

 little bag over his shoulder, containing all his worldly gear, 

 and as ready with his uncalled-for remarks as before. Every 

 effort failed to drive him away, until at length the happy 

 expedient was hit on, of threatening to take him down to the 

 river and wash him ; he at once made off, and we saw him no 

 more. Much skin disease is seen among the Manganja. 

 Many had ulcers on their limbs ; indeed, an indolent almost 

 incurable ulcer is the worst complaint we saw. Some men 

 appeared as if they had blotches of whitewash all over 

 them, and some were afflicted with the leprosy of the Cape. 

 Many fowls even have their feet deformed by a peculiar 

 thickening of the skin. We noticed also some men marked 

 with smallpox, and asked the Chief, Mongazi, if he knew 

 whether it had come to them from the coast, or from the 

 interior. Being, as usual, amiably tipsy and anxious to pay 

 us a compliment, he graciously replied he did not know, but 

 thought it must have come to them from the English. 



