CHAP. II. CHASE BY A BUFFALO. 61 



tree, and were both shot. The larger of the two, a female, 

 was ten feet long. They are harmless, and said to be good 

 eating. The Makololo having set fire to the grass where 

 they were cutting wood, a solitary buffalo rushed out of 

 the conflagration, and made a furious charge at an active 

 young fellow named Mantlanyane. Never did his fleet 

 limbs serve him better than during the few seconds of his 

 fearful flight before the maddened animal. When he 

 reached the bank, and sprang into the river, the infuriated 

 beast was scarcely six feet behind him. Towards evening, 

 after the day's labour in wood-cutting was over, some of 

 the men went fishing. They followed the common African 

 custom of agitating the water, by giving it a few sharp 

 strokes with the top of the fishing-rod, immediately after 

 throwing in the line, to attract the attention of the fish to 

 the bait. Having caught nothing, the reason assigned was 

 the same as would have been given in England under like 

 circumstances, namely, that " the wind made the fish cold, 

 and they would not bite." Many gardens of maize, pump- 

 kins, and tobacco, fringed the marshy banks as we went 

 on. They belong to natives of the hills, who come down 

 in the dry season, and raise a crop on parts at other times 

 flooded. While the crops are growing, large quantities of 

 fish are caught, chiefly Clarias capensis, and Mugil Afri- 

 canus ; they are dried for sale or future consumption. 



As we ascended, we passed a deep stream about thirty 

 yards wide, flowing in from a body of open water several 

 miles broad. Numbers of men were busy at different 

 parts of it, filling their canoes with the lotus root, called 

 Nyiha, which, when boiled or roasted, resembles our 

 chestnuts, and is extensively used in Africa as food. Out 

 of this lagoon, and by this stream, the chief part of the 

 duckweed of the Shire flows. The lagoon itself is called 

 Nyanja ea Motope (Lake of Mud). It is also named 

 Nyanja Pangono (Little Lake), while the elephant marsh 



