Chap. XIX. THE LAKE MEN. 375 



sometimes venture out when a considerable sea is running. 

 Our Makololo acknowledged that, in handling canoes, the 

 Lake men beat them; they were unwilling to cross the 

 Zambesi even, when the wind blew fresh. The first impres- 

 sion one receives of the Lake Nyassa men is, that they are 

 far from being industrious — or, to be more explicit, are 

 troubled with downright laziness. Groups may be seen 

 during the day lying fast asleep under the shady trees along 

 the shore, and apparently taking life very easily : but, on a 

 little better acquaintance, this first impression is modified, 

 and it is found that these forenoon sleepers have been hard 

 at work the greater part of the night. In the afternoon they 

 begin to bestir themselves ; examining and mending their nets, 

 carrying them to the canoes, and coiling in their lines. In 

 the evening they paddle off to the best fishing station, and 

 throughout most of the night the poor fellows are toiling in 

 the water, dragging their nets. They too suffer from fever. 

 We saw the herpetic eruptions round their mouths which 

 often mark its cure, and found that the chills act on them, 

 though their skin is much more torpid in function than ours. 

 Hence that conformity to the customs of the natives, which 

 some people enjoin, would require modification for our highly 

 excitable skins. Our beards grow as much in a week as 

 theirs do in a month. 



Though there are many crocodiles in the lake, and some 

 of an extraordinary size, the fishermen say that it is a rare 

 thing for any one to be carried off by these reptiles. When 

 crocodiles can easily obtain abundance of fish — their 

 natural food — they seldom attack men ; but when unable to 

 see to catch their prey, from the muddiness of the water in 

 floods, they are very dangerous. 



Many men and boys are employed in gathering the buaze, 

 in preparing the fibre, and in making it into long nets. The 



