162 PATH THROUGH KEBEABASA HILLS. Chap. YIL 



Chief. A sister's son has much more chance of succeeding to 

 a chieftainship than the Chief's own offspring, it being un- 

 questionable that the sister's child has the family blood. The 

 men are all marked across the nose and up the middle of the 

 forehead, with short horizontal bars or cicatrices ; and a single 

 brass earring of two or three inches diameter, like the ancient 

 Egypt ia is worn by the men. Some wear the hair long- 

 like the ancient Assyrians and Egyptians, and a few have 

 eyes with the downward and inward slant of the Chinese. 



After fording the rapid Luia, we left our former path on 

 the banks of the Zambesi, and struck off in a N.W. direction 

 behind one of the hill ranges, the eastern end of which is called 

 Mongwa, the name of an acacia, having a peculiarly strong 

 fetor, found on it. Our route wound up a valley along a small 

 mountain-stream which was nearly dry, and then crossed the 

 rocky spurs of some of the lofty hills. The country was all 

 very dry at the time, and no water was found except in an oc- 

 casional spring and a few wells dug in the beds of water- 

 courses. The people were poor, and always anxious to convince 

 travellers of the fact. The men, unlike those on the plains, 

 spend a good deal of their time in hunting; this may be 

 because they have but little ground on the hill-sides suitable 

 for gardens, and but little certainty of reaping what may be 

 sown in the valleys. No women came forward in the hamlet, 

 east of Chiperiziwa, where we halted for the night. Two shots 

 had been fired at guinea-fowl a little way off in the valley ; 

 the women fled into the woods, and the men came to know if 

 war was meant, and a few of the old folks only returned after 

 hearing that we were for peace. The headman, Kambira, 

 apologized for not having a present ready, and afterwards 

 brought us some meal, a roasted coney (Hyrax capensis) and 

 a pot of beer ; he wished to be thought poor. The beer had 



