208 CAZEMBE. Chap. XVII. 



farther south. They would neither partake of the food which 

 we had cooked, nor would they eat in our presence, but 

 always retired into a thicket for their meals, after which they 

 stood up, clapped their hands, and praised Intemese. When 

 the Makololo, who are very free and easy in their manners, 

 held out handfuls of their meat to any of the Balonda, they 

 refused to taste. They are very punctilious in their manners 

 to each other. Each hut has its own fire, and when it goes 

 ont they make it afresh for themselves rather than take it 

 from a neighbour. I believe much of this arises from super- 

 stitious fears. 



After crossing the Lonaje we passed some pretty villages, 

 embowered, as they usually are, in bananas, shrubs, and 

 manioc, and we formed our encampment in a nest of serpents 

 near the banks of the Leeba. One village had lately been 

 transferred hither from the country of Matiarnvo, who was 

 still acknowledged by the villagers as paramount chief; this, 

 however, as well as numerous other instances of migration, 

 shows that the great chiefs possess only a limited power. The 

 only peculiarity we observed in these people was the habit of 

 plaiting the beard into a threefold cord. 

 (42) The town of the Balonda chief, Cazembe, was pointed out 

 to us as lying to the N.E. of the town of Shinte ; it had been 

 visited by great numbers of people in this quarter for the 

 purpose of purchasing copper anklets, and was reported to be 

 about five days' journey distant. I made inquiries of the 

 oldest inhabitants of the villages at which we were staying 

 respecting the visit of Pereira and Lacerda to that town. 

 A grey-headed man replied that he had often heard of white 

 men, but never seen one, and added that one had visited 

 Cazembe when he was young, but had not entered this part 

 of the country. The people of Cazembe are Balonda or Baloi, 

 and his country has been termed Londa, Lunda, or Ltd, by 

 the Portuguese. 



It was always difficult to get our guides to move away from 

 a place. With the countenance of the chief, the}*- felt as com- 

 fortable as king's messengers could do, and were not disposed 

 to forego the pleasure of living at free quarters. My Makololo 

 friends, who had never left their own country before, except 

 for purposes of plunder, did not readily adopt the peaceful 



