Chap. XX. OBSTACLES TO A MISSION. 415 



to them by the Portuguese officer of customs, in spite of our 

 earnest request to him to refrain from the pernicious traffic. 



We started on the 11th for Shupanga with another load of 

 the Lady Nyassa. As we steamed up the Delta, we observed 

 many of the natives wearing strips of palm-leaf, the signs of 

 sickness and mourning ; for they too suffer from fever. 

 This is the unhealthy season; the rains are over, and the 

 hot sun draws up malaria from the decayed vegetation ; 

 disease seemed peculiarly severe this year. On our way 

 up we met Mr. Waller, who had come from Magomero 

 for provisions ; the missionaries were suffering severely from 

 want of food ; the liberated people were starving, and dying 

 of diarrhoea, and loathsome sores. The Ajawa, stimulated in 

 their slave raids by supplies of ammunition and cloth from 

 the Portuguese, had destroyed the large crops of the past 

 year ; a drought had followed, and little or no food could be 

 bought. With his usual energy, Mr. Waller hired canoes, 

 loaded them with stores, and took them up the long weary 

 way to Chibisa's. Before he arrived he was informed that 

 the Mission of the Universities, now deprived of its brave 

 leader, had fled from the highlands down to the Low Shire 

 Valley. This appeared to us, who knew the danger of leading 

 a sedentary life, the greatest mistake they could have made, 

 and was the result of no other counsel or responsibility than 

 their own. Waller would have reascended at once to the 

 higher altitude, but various objections stood in the way. 

 The loss of poor Scudamore and Dickinson, in this low-lying 

 situation, but added to the regret that the highlands had 

 not received a fair trial. 



When the news of the Bishop's unfortunate collisions with 

 the natives, and of his untimely end, reached England, 

 much blame was imputed to him. The policy, which with 

 the formal sanction of all his companions he had adopted, 



