1866.] A SUPPOSED CANNIBAL. GO 



5th July. — We left for Mtende, who is the last chief 

 before we enter oil a good eight days' march to Mataka's ; 

 we might have gone to Kandulo's, who is near the Eo- 

 vuina, and more to the north, but all are so well supplied 

 with everything by slave-traders that we have difficulty in 

 getting provisions at all. Mataka has plenty of all kinds 

 of food. On the way we passed the burnt bones of a person 

 who was accused of having eaten human flesh ; he had been 

 poisoned, or, as they said, killed by poison (inuave ?), and 

 then burned. His clothes were hung up on trees by the 

 Avayside as a warning to others. The country was covered 

 with scraggy forest, but so undulating that one could often 

 see all around from the crest of the waves. Great mountain 

 masses appear in the south and south-west. It feels cold, 

 and the sky is often overcast. 



6th July. — I took lunars yesterday, after which Mtende 

 invited us to eat at his house where he had provided a large 

 mess of rice porridge and bean-leaves as a relish. He says 

 that many Arabs pass him and many of them die in their 

 journeys. He knows no deaf or dumb person in the country. 

 He says that he cuts the throats of all animals to be eaten, 

 and does not touch lion or hysena. 



1th July. — We got men from Mtende to carry loads and 

 show the way. He asked a cloth to ensure his people going 

 to the journey's end and behaving properly; this is the 

 only case of anything like tribute being demanded in this 

 journey : I gave him a cloth worth 5s. 6d. Upland vegetation 

 prevails ; trees are dotted here and there among bushes five 

 feet high, and fine blue and yellow flowers are common. We 

 pass over a succession of ridges and valleys as in Londa; 

 each valley has a running stream or trickling rill ; garden 

 willows are in full bloom, and also a species of sage with 

 variegated leaves beneath the flowers. 



When the sepoy Perim threw away the tea and the lead 

 lining, I only reproved him and promised him punishment 



