1866.] EARTHQUAKES. THE MAEAVI. 105 



17th September. — We marched down from Mukate's and 

 to about the middle of the Lakelet Pamalombe. Mukate 

 had no people with canoes near the usual crossing place, 

 and he sent a messenger to see that we were fairly served. 

 Here we got the Manganja headmen to confess that an 

 earthquake had happened ; all the others we have in- 

 quired of have denied it ; why, I cannot conceive. The old 

 men said that they had felt earthquakes twice, once near 

 sunset and the next time at night — they shook everything,, 

 and were accompanied with noise, and all the fowls cackled ; 

 there was no effect on the Lake observed. They profess 

 ignorance of any tradition of the water having stood higher. 

 Their traditions say that they came originally from the 

 west, or west north-west, which they call "Maravi;" and 

 that their forefathers taught them to make nets and kill 

 fish. They have no trace of any teaching by a higher 

 instructor ; no carvings or writings on the rocks ; and they 

 never heard of a book until Ave came among them. Their 

 forefathers never told them that after or at death they went 

 to God, but they had heard it said of such a one who died,. 

 " God took him." 



l§th September. — We embarked the whole party in eight 

 canoes, and went up the Lake to the point of junction between 

 it and the prolongation of Nyassa above it, called Massan- 

 gano ("meetings"), which took us two hours. A fishing 

 party there fled on seeing us, though we shouted that we 

 were a travelling party (or " Olendo "). 



Mukate's people here left us, and I walked up to the 

 village of the fugitives with one attendant only. Their 

 suspicions were so thoroughly aroused that they would 

 do nothing. The headman (Pima) was said to be absent ; 

 they could not lend us a hut, but desired us to go on to 

 Mponda's. We put up a shed for ourselves, and next 

 morning, though we pressed them for a guide, no one 

 would come. 



