126 INHOSPITALITY OF THE MANGANJA. Chap. V. 



boy or girl, to be taken to the Portuguese at Mosambique, 

 Iboe, and Quillimane. 



Another channel of supply, fed by victims from all classes, 

 but chiefly from the common people, is frequently opened, 

 when one portion of a tribe, urged on by the greed of 

 gain, begins to steal and sell their fellow-clansmen. The 

 evil does not stop here. A feud is the consequence. The 

 weaker part of the tribe is driven away, and wandering 

 about, becomes so thoroughly demoralized, as to live by 

 marauding and selling their captives, and even each other, 

 without compunction. This was precisely the state of the 

 portion of the Ajawa we first fell in with. 



The Manganja were more suspicious and less hospitable 

 than the tribes on the Zambesi. They were slow to believe 

 that our object in coming into their country was really what 

 we professed it to be. They naturally judge us by the 

 motives which govern themselves. A Chief in the Upper 

 Shire Valley, whose scared looks led our men to christen him 

 .Kitlabolawa (I shall be killed), remarked that parties had 

 come before, with as plausible a story as ours, and, after a 

 few days, had jumped up and carried off a number of his people 

 as slaves. We were not allowed to enter some of the villages 

 in the valley, nor would the inhabitants even sell us food ; Zi- 

 mika's men, for instance, stood at the entrance of the euphorbia 

 hedge, and declared we should not pass in. We sat down under 

 a tree close by. A young fellow made an angry oration, danc- 

 ing from side to side with his bow and poisoned arrows, and 

 gesticulating fiercely in our faces. He was stopped in the 

 middle of his harangue by an old man, who ordered him to 

 sit down, and not talk to strangers in that way ; he obeyed 

 reluctantly, scowling defiance, and thrusting out his large lips 

 very significantly. The women were observed leaving the 



