1873.] MATIPA'S STOCKADE. 281 



so are papyrus. The buffaloes are at a loss in the water. 

 Three canoes are behind. The men are great cowards. I 

 took possession of all the paddles and punting poles, as the 

 men showed an inclination to move off from our islet. The 

 water in the country is prodigiously large : plains extend- 

 ing further than the eye can reach have four or five feet of 

 clear water, and the Lake and adjacent lands for twenty or 

 thirty miles are level. We are on a miserable dirty fishy 

 island called Motovinza ; all are damp. We are surrounded 

 by scores of miles of rushes, an open sward, and many lotus 

 plants, but no mosquitoes. 



2nd March.— -It took us 7^ hours' punting to bring us to 

 an island, and then the miserable weather rained constantly 

 on our landing into the Boma (stockade), which is well 

 peopled. The prairie is ten hours long, or about thirty miles 

 by punting. Matipa is on an island too, with four bomas on 

 it. A river, the Molonga, runs past it, and is a protection.* 



The men wear a curious head-dress of skin or hair, and 

 large upright ears. 



3rd March. — Matipa paid off the men who brought us 

 here. He says that five Sangos or coils (which brought us 

 here) will do to take us to Kabende, and I sincerely hope 

 that they will. His canoes are off, bringing the meat of an 

 elephant. There are many dogs in the village, which they 

 use in hunting to bring elephants to bay. I visited Matipa 

 at noon. He is an old man, slow of tongue, and self-pos- 

 sessed ; he recommended our crossing to the south bank of 

 the Lake to his brother, who has plenty of cattle, and to go 



* It will be observed that these islets were in reality slight eminences 

 standing above water on the flooded plains which border on Lake Bang- 

 weolo. The men say that the actual deep-water Lake lay away to their 

 right, and on being asked why Dr. Livingstone did not make a short cut 

 across to the southern shore, they explain that the canoes could not live 

 for an hour on the Lake, but were merely suited for punting about over 

 the flooded land. — Ed. 



