50 INTERVIEW WITH TINGANE. Chap. II. 



the whole of this aquatic plant proceeds from a marsh 

 on the west, and comes into the river a little beyond a 

 lofty hill called Mount Morambala. Above that there is 

 hardly any. As we approached the villages, the natives 

 collected in large numbers, armed with bows and poisoned 

 arrows; and some, dodging behind trees, were observed 

 taking aim as if on the point of shooting. All the women 

 had been sent out of the way, and the men were evidently 

 prepared to resist aggression. At the village of a chief 

 named Tingane, at least five hundred natives collected and 

 ordered us to stop. Dr. Livingstone went ashore ; and on 

 his explaining that we were English and had come neither 

 to take slaves nor to fight, but only to open a path by 

 which our countrymen might follow to purchase cotton, 

 or whatever else they might have to sell, except slaves, 

 Tingane became at once quite friendly. The presence of 

 the steamer, which showed that they had an entirely new 

 people to deal with, probably contributed to this result ; 

 for Tingane was notorious for being the barrier to all 

 intercourse between the Portuguese black traders and the 

 natives further inland ; none were allowed to pass him 

 either way. He was an elderly, well-made man, grey- 

 headed, and over six feet high. Though somewhat excited 

 by our presence, he readily complied with the request to 

 call his people together, in order that all might know 

 what our objects were. 



In commencing intercourse with any people we almost 

 always referred to the English detestation of slavery. 

 Most of them already possess some information respecting 

 the efforts made by the English at sea to suppress the 

 slave-trade ; and our work being to induce them to raise 

 and sell cotton, instead of capturing and selling their 

 fellow-men, our errand appears quite natural ; and as they 

 all have clear ideas of their own self-interest, and are 

 keen traders, the reasonableness of the proposal is at 



