1867.] CASEMBE'S CHIEF WIFE. 251 



ping ears. On saying to him that his was nasty work, he 

 smiled, and so did many who were not sure of their ears a 

 moment : many men of respectability show that at some 

 former time they have been thus punished. Casembe sent 

 us another large basket of fire-dried fish in addition to 

 that sent us at Chungu, two baskets of flour, one of 

 dried cassava, and a pot of pombe or beer. Mohamad, who 

 was accustomed to much more liberal Casembes, thinks 

 this one very stingy, having neither generosity nor good 

 sense; but as we cannot consume all he gives, we do not 

 complain. 



27th November. — Casembe's chief wife passes frequently 

 to her plantation, carried by six, or more commonly 

 by twelve men in a sort of palanquin : she has European 

 features, but light-brown complexion. A number of men 

 run before her, brandishing swords and battle-axes, and one 

 beats a hollow instrument, giving warning to passengers to 

 clear the way : she has two enormous pipes ready filled for 

 smoking. She is very attentive to her agriculture ; cassava 

 is the chief product ; sweet potatoes, maize, sorghum, pen- 

 nisetum, millet, ground-nuts, cotton. The people seem more 

 savage than any I have yet seen : they strike each other 

 barbarously from mere wantonness, but they are civil 

 enough to me. 



Mohamad bin Saleh proposes to go to Ujiji next month. 

 He waited when he heard of our coming, in order that 

 we might go together : he has a very low opinion of 

 the present chief. The area which has served for building 

 the chief town at different times is about ten miles in 

 diameter. 



Mofwe is a shallow piece of water about two miles broad, 

 four or less long, full of sedgy islands, the abodes of water- 

 fowl, but some are solid enough to be cultivated. The bottom 

 is mud, though sandy at the east shore : it has no com- 



