1866.] LUOPAKD'S FLESH UNCLEAN. 25 



tlie tsetse feed on them. In the low meadow land, from 

 one to three miles broad, which lies along both banks, 

 Ave have brackish pools, and one, a large one, which we 

 passed, called Wrongwe, had much fish, and salt is got 

 from it. 



21st April — After a great deal of cutting we reached 

 the valley of Mehanibwe to spend Sunday, all glad that it 

 had come round again. Here some men came to our camp 

 from Ndonde, who report that an invasion of Mazitu had 

 three months ago swept away all the food out of the country, 

 and they are now obliged to send in every direction for 

 provisions. When saluting, they catch each other's hands 

 and say, "Ai! Ai!" but the general mode (introduced, 

 probably by the Arabs) is to take hold of the right hand, 

 and say, "JVlarhaba" (welcome). 



A wall-eyed ill-looking fellow, who helped to urge on 

 the attack on our first visit in 1861, and the man to 

 whom I gave cloth to prevent a collision, came about us 

 disguised in a jacket. I knew him well, but said nothing 

 to him* 



23rd April. — When we marched this morning we passed 

 the spot where an animal had been burned in the fire, 

 and on enquiry I found that it is the custom when a 

 leopard is killed to take off the skin and consume the 

 carcase thus, because the Makonde do not eat it. The 

 reason they gave for not eating flesh which is freely eaten 

 by other tribes, is that the leopard devours men ; this 

 shows the opposite of an inclination to cannibalism. 



All the rocks we had seen showed that the plateau consists 

 of grey sandstone, capped by a ferruginous sandy con- 

 glomerate. AYe now came to blocks of silicified wood lying 

 on the surface ; it is so like recent wood, that no one who 



* This refers to an attack made upon the boats of the Pioneer when the 

 Doctor was exploring the River Rovuma in 1861. 



