228 UNCULTIVATED VALLEYS. Chai\ XVII*. 



with which they dashed in to my rescue. In the evening we 

 crossed the small rivulet Lozeze, and came to some villages 

 of the Kasabi, from whom we got some manioc in exchange 

 for beads. They tried to frighten us by telling of the deep 

 rivers we should have to cross, but my men laughed at the 

 idea : " We can all swim," said they ; " who carried the white 

 man across the river but himself? " I felt proud of their 

 praise. 



Saturday, 4th March. — We reached the outskirts of the terri- 

 (52) tory of the Chiboque. We crossed the Konde and Kalrize, 

 the former a deep small stream with a bridge, the latter an 

 insignificant rivulet, each flowing through a valley of remark- 

 able fertility. My companions are continually lamenting 

 over these uncultivated vales in such words as these, — 

 " What a fine country for cattle ! My heart is sore to see 

 such fruitful valleys for corn lying waste ! " At first I con- 

 ceived that the reason why the inhabitants of this fine country 

 possessed no herds of cattle was owing to the despotic sway 

 of their chiefs, but I have since conjectured that the country 

 must formerly have been infested by the tsetse, which has 

 now disappeared along with the wild animals on which it 

 subsists. This was probably the case in the country of the 

 Balonda, who, by the possession of guns, had cleared most of 

 tho country of the large game, and had thus fitted it for the 

 reception of cattle. Hence the success of Katema, Shinte, 

 and Matiamvo with their herds. It would not be surprising 

 if they knew nothing of this explanation ; for I once met with 

 a tribe on the Zambesi whose country was swarming with 

 tsetse, but who believed that they could not keep any cattlb 

 because " no one loved them well enough to give them the 

 medicine of oxen ;" and even the Portuguese at Loanda 

 attributed the death of the cattle brought from the interior to 

 the sea-coast to the prejudicial influence of the sea air ! One 

 ox which I took down to the sea from the interior died at 

 Loanda with all the symptoms of the poison injected by 

 tsetse, which I myself saw in a district within a hundred 

 miles of the coast. While at the villages of the Kasabi we 

 saw no evidence of want of food. Our beads were very 

 valuable, but cotton cloth would have been still more so; as 

 we travelled along, men, women, and children came running 



