184 MAMBARI TRADERS. Chap. XV 



ment to beg a little meat ; and I have no doubt they felt 

 grateful for what Ave gave. 



Sekelenke's people, twenty-four in number, defiled past 

 our camp canning large bundles of dried elephant's meat. 

 Most of them came to say good-bye, and Sekelenke himself 

 sent word that he had gone to visit a wife in the village of 

 Manenko. This was a mere manoeuvre to gain information, 

 and not commit himself with respect to our visit. Another 

 zebra came to our camp, and, as we had friends near, it was 

 shot. It was the Equus montanus, and, like all the zebras in 

 these parts, it was finely marked down to the feet. 



To our first offer of a visit to Manenko we got an answer, 

 accompanied with a basket of manioc-roots, that we must 

 remain where we were till she should visit me. When I had 

 already waited two days, other messengers arrived with 

 orders for me to go to her. After four days of negotiation I 

 declined going, and proceeded up the river to the Makondo 

 (lat. 13° 23' 12" S.), which enters the Leeba from the east, 

 and is between twenty and thirty yards broad. 



Januaiy 1st, 1854. We had heavy rains almost every day; 

 indeed the rainy season had fairly set in. Baskets of the 

 purple fruit called mawa were frequently presented to us by 

 the villagers, in the belief that their chiefs would be pleased 

 to hear that we had been well treated ; we gave them pieces 

 of meat in return. 



At the confluence of the Leeba and Makondo a bit of a 

 steel watch-chain of English manufacture was picked up, and 

 we were informed that this was the spot where the Marnbari 

 cross in coming to Masiko. Their visits explain why Seke- 

 lenke kept his tusks so carefully. These Marnbari are very 

 enterprising merchants : when they mean to trade with a 

 town they begin by building huts, as if they knew that little 

 business could be transacted without time for palaver. They 

 bring Manchester goods into the heart of Africa, and the 

 cotton prints look so wonderful that the Makololo cannot 

 believe them to be the work of mortal hands. The Marnbari 

 told them that English manufactures came out of the sea, 

 and that beads were gathered on its shore. To the Africans 

 our cotton-mills are as fairy dreams. " How can the irons 

 spin, weave, and print so beautifully ? " Any attempt at 



