164 SANDIA. Chap. VJI. 



Shirimba, who had unsuspectingly intrusted them to his 

 care. 



Proceeding S.W. up this lovely valley, in about an hour's 

 time we reached Sandia's village. The Chief was said to 

 be absent hunting, and they did not know when he would 

 return. This is such a common answer to the inquiry after 

 a headman, that one is inclined to think, that it only means 

 that they wish to know the stranger's object, before exposing 

 their superior to danger. As some of our men were ill, a halt 

 was made here. Sandia's people were very civil : a kinsman 

 of his came to see us in the evening, bringing a large pot of 

 beer : he did not like to see us eating with nothing to drink, 

 so brought it as a present. When at a distance from those 

 who are engaged in the slave-trade, there is much in the 

 manners of the natives, and their ways of speaking, to remind 

 us of the Patriarchs. The inhabitants of Zibah are Badema, 

 and a wealthier class than those we have recently passed, with 

 more cloth, ornaments, food and luxuries. Fowls, eggs, 

 sugar-canes, sweet-potatoes, ground-nuts, turmeric, tomatoes, 

 chillies, rice, mapira (holcus sorghum), and maize, were 

 offered for sale in large quantities. The mapira may be 

 called the corn of the country. It is known as Kaffir and 

 Guinea corn, in the south and west ; as dura in Egypt, and 

 badjery in India; the grain is 'round and white, or reddish- 

 white, about the size of the hemp-seed given to canaries. 

 Several hundred grains form a massive ear, on a stalk as thick 

 as an ordinary walking-staff, and from eight to eighteen feet 

 high. Tobacco, hemp, and cotton were also cultivated, as, 

 indeed, they are by all the people in Kebrabasa. In nearly 

 every village here, as in the Manganja hills, men are engaged 

 in spinning and weaving cotton of excellent quality. 



As we were unable to march next morning, six of our young 



