498 NATIVE AGRICULTURE. Chap. XXIV. 



the country to the west of us, and no one was safe except 

 in a stockade. We have so often, in travelling, heard of 

 war in front, that we paid little attention to the assertion 

 of Chenibi, that the whole country to the N.W. was in 

 flight before these Mazitu, under a Chief with the rather 

 formidable name of Mowhiriwhiri ; we therefore resolved to go 

 on to Chinsamba's, still further in the same direction, and 

 hear what he said about it. 



In marching across the same kind of fertile plains, there 



was little to interest the mind. The air was very sultry, for 



this is the " hot season " of the year. A thick haze restricted 



our view on all sides to a few miles. The blazing glare of 



the torrid sun on this haze gives to one, accustomed to mists 



elsewhere, the impression of being enveloped in a hot fog. 



The cultivation was very extensive and naturally drew our 



thoughts to the agriculture of the Africans. On one part of 



this plain the people had fields of maize, the plants of 



which" towered far over our heads. A succession of holes 



three feet deep and four wide had been made in a sandy 



dell, through which flowed a perennial stream. The maize 



sown in the bottom of these holes had the benefit of the 



moisture, which percolated from the stream through the 



sand ; and the result was a flourishing crop at a time of 



year when all the rest of the country was parched and 



dusty. On our counting the grains in one large cob or ear 



of maize, it was found to contain 360, and as one stalk has 



at times two or three cobs, it may be said to yield three 



or four hundred-fold. 



While advantage is taken of the moist stratum in these 

 holes during the dry season, grain, beans, and pumpkins, 

 which are cultivated only in the rainy time of the year, are 

 planted on ridges a foot high, allowing the superabundant 

 moisture to run off. Another way in which the natives 



