366 VILLAGE CONTRASTS. Chap. XIX. 



and bawling does not put thero. out of breath. The country- 

 was rough and with little soil on it, but covered with grass 

 and open forest. A few small trees were cut down to clear 

 a path for our shouting assistants, who were good enough 

 to consider the boat as a certificate of peaceful intentions 

 at least to them. Several small streams were passed, the 

 largest of which were the Mulmru-Madse and Lesungwe. 

 The inhabitants on both banks were now civil and oblig- 

 ing. Our possession of a boat, and consequent power of 

 crossing independently of the canoes, helped to develop 

 their good manners, which were not apparent on our pre- 

 vious visit. 



There is often a surprising contrast between neighbour- 

 ing villages. One is well off and thriving, having good huts, 

 plenty of food, and native cloth ; and its people are frank, 

 trusty, generous, and eager to sell provisions ; while in the 

 next the inhabitants may be ill-housed, disobliging, suspi- 

 cious, ill fed, and scantily clad, and with nothing for sale, 

 though the land around is as fertile as that of then wealthier 

 neighbours. We followed the river for the most part to 

 avail ourselves of the still reaches for sailing ; but a com- 

 paratively smooth country lies further inland, over which a 

 good road could be made. Some of the five main cataracts 

 are very grand, the river falling 1200 feet in the 40 miles. 

 After passing the last of the cataracts, we launched our boat 

 for good on the broad and deep waters of the Upper Shire, 

 and were virtually on the lake, for the gentle current shows 

 but little difference of level. The bed is broad and deep, 

 but the course is rather tortuous at first, and makes a long 

 bend to the east till it comes within five or six miles of 

 the base of Mount Zomba. The natives regarded the Upper 

 Shire as a prolongation of Lake Nyassa ; for where what we 

 called the river approaches Lake Shirwa, a little north of 



