Chap. XVI. FAVOUR TO THE ENGLISH. 331 



to levy a fine, and obtain payment for the wood we used 

 in cooking. But on our replying to his demand that we were 

 English, " Oh ! are you ? " he said ; " I thought you were 

 Bazungu (Portuguese). They are the people I take pay- 

 ments from :" and he apologized for his mistake. Bazungu, 

 or Azungu, is a term applied to all foreigners of a light colour, 

 and to Arabs ; even to trading slaves if clothed ; it probably 

 means foreigners or visitors, — from zunga, to visit or wander, — 

 and the Portuguese were the only foreigners these men had 

 ever seen. As we had no desire to pass for people of that 

 nation — quite the contrary — we usually made a broad line 

 of demarcation by saying that we were English, and the 

 English neither bought, sold, nor held black people as slaves, 

 but wished to put a stop to the slave-trade altogether. 



We called upon our friend, Mpende, in passing. He pro- 

 vided a hut for us, with new mats spread on the floor. 

 Having told him that we were hurrying on because the rains 

 were near, " Are they near ? " eagerly inquired an old 

 counsellor, " and are we to have plenty of rain this year ? " 

 We could only say that it was about the usual time for the 

 rains to commence ; and that there were the usual indications 

 in great abundance of clouds floating westwards, but that we 

 knew nothing more than they did themselves. Some people 

 occasionally take advantage of the supposed credulity of the 

 natives to gain temporary applause ; but Africans are usually 

 shrewd enough to detect some discrepancy, and no one is 

 duped but the traveller himself. Mpende had been blamed 

 for driving the clouds away during the past drought, and had 

 to pay a heavy fine to the Pondoro, as an atonement for his 

 offence. It blew a gale on the night of the 4th, after which 

 the wind suddenly chopped round, and blew down the river, 

 and we had thunder, lightning, and rain. The temperature 

 of both air and water was lowered next morning, the river 



