Chap. XIX. HUMPBACKED SPOKESMAN. 367 



the mountains, they said that the hippopotami, " which are 

 great night travellers," pass from one lake into the other. 

 There the land is flat, and only a short land journey would 

 be necessary. Seldom does the current here exceed a knot 

 an hour, while that of the Lower Shire is from two to two- 

 and-a-half knots. Our land party of Makololo accompanied 

 us along the right bank, and passed thousands of Manganja 

 fugitives living in temporary huts on that side, who had 

 recently been driven from their villages on the opposite hills 

 by the Ajawa. 



The soil was dry and hard, and covered with mopane-trees ; 

 but some of the Manganja were busy hoeing the ground and 

 planting the little corn they had brought with them. The 

 effects of hunger were already visible on those whose food had 

 been seized or burned by the Ajawa and Portuguese slave- 

 traders. The spokesman or prime minister of one of the Chiefs, 

 named Kalonjere, was a humpbacked dwarf, a fluent speaker, 

 who tried hard to make us go over and drive off the Ajawa ; 

 but he could not deny that by selling people Kalonjere 

 had invited these slave-hunters to the country. This is 

 the second humpbacked dwarf we have found occupying 

 the like important post, the other was the prime minister 

 of a Batonga Chief on the Zambesi. 



As we sailed along, we disturbed many white-breasted 

 cormorants ; we had seen the same species fishing between 

 the cataracts. Here, with many other wild-fowl, they find 

 subsistence on the smooth water by night, and sit sleepily 

 on trees and in the reeds by day. Many hippopotami were 

 seen in the river, and one of them stretched its wide jaws, 

 as if to swallow the whole stern of the boat, close to Dr. 

 Kirk's back ; the animal was so near, that in opening its 

 mouth it lashed a quantity of water on to the stern-sheets, 

 but did no damage. To avoid large marauding parties of 



