562 KATOSA'S INVESTITURE. Chap. XXVII. 



need not be afraid of us. They had red beads strung so 

 thickly on their hair that at a little distance they appeared 

 to have on red caps. It is curious that the taste for red 

 hair should be so general among the Africans here and fur- 

 ther north ; in the south black mica, called Sebilo, and even 

 soot are used to deepen the colour of the hair ; here many 

 smear the head with red-ochre, others plait the inner bark 

 of a tree stained red into it; and a red powder called 

 Mukuru is employed, which some say is obtained from the 

 ground, and others from the roots of a tree. 



It having been doubted whether sugar-cane is indigenous 

 to this country or not, we employed Katosa to procure the 

 two varieties commonly cultivated, with the intention of 

 conveying them to Johanna. One is yellow, and the other, 

 like what we observed in the Barotse Valley, is variegated 

 with dark red and yellow patches, or all red. We have seen 

 it "arrow" or blossom. Bamboos also run to seed, and the 

 people are said to use the seed as food. The sugar-cane 

 has native names, which would lead us to believe it to be 

 indigenous. Here it is called Zwibi, further south Mesari, 

 and in the centre of the country Meshuati. Anything intro- 

 duced in recent times, as maize, superior cotton, or cassava, 

 has a name implying its foreign origin. 



As Katosa was very bountiful, and seemed, from calling 

 Dr. Livingstone his good spirit, to have given us his con- 

 fidence, a present was made him of a marine officer's coat 

 and epaulets, which was sent by the officers of H.M.S. Lyra, 

 under Captain Oldfield, to the Chief who had seized and 

 delivered up to justice the murderers of the late Dr. Boscher. 

 We carried it up the Bovuma, intending to present it, should 

 we be fortunate enough to meet that Chief ; but, at the point 

 where we were obliged to turn back, we could hear nothing 

 about hiin. Dr. Boscher, having gone with an Arab party, 



