234 CORN EXTENSIVELY GROWN. Chap. XT. 



relish, great pots of beer to comfort our hearts, together with 

 pumpkins, beans, and tobacco, so that we " should sleep 

 neither hungry nor thirsty." 



In travelling from the Kafue to the Zungwe we frequently 

 passed several villages in the course of a day's march. In the 

 evening came deputies from the villages, at which we could 

 not stay to sleep, with liberal presents of food. It would 

 have pained them to have allowed strangers to pass 

 without partaking of their hospitality ; repeatedly were we 

 hailed from huts, and asked to wait a moment and drink a 

 little of the beer, which was brought with alacrity. Our march 

 resembled a triumphal procession. We entered and left every 

 village amidst the cheers of its inhabitants ; the men clapping 

 their hands, and the women lullilooing, with the shrill call, 

 " Let us sleep," or " Peace." Passing through a hamlet one 

 day, our guide called to the people, " Why do you not clap 

 your hands and salute when you see men who are wishing to 

 bring peace to the land ?" When we halted for the night it 

 was no uncommon thing for the people to prepare our camp 

 entirely of their own accord ; some with hoes quickly 

 smoothed the ground for our beds, others brought dried grass 

 and spread it carefully over the spot ; some with their small 

 axes speedily made a bush fence to shield us from theVind ; 

 and if, as occasionally happened, the water was a little 

 distance off, others hastened and brought it with firewood 

 to cook our food with. They are an industrious people, and 

 very fond of agriculture. For hours together we marched 

 through unbroken fields of mapira, or native corn, of a great 

 width ; but one can give no idea of the extent of land under 

 the hoe as compared with any European country. The extent 

 of surface is so great that the largest fields under culture, 

 when viewed on a wide landscape, dwindle to mere spots. 



