CHAP. IV. THE TRADE OF CAZEMBE. 95 



Our stay at the Lake was necessarily short. "VVe had 

 found that the best plan for allaying any suspicions, that 

 might arise in the minds of a people accustomed only to 

 slave-traders, was to pay a hasty visit, and then leave for 

 a while, and allow the conviction to form among the 

 people that, though our course of action was so different 

 from that of others, we were not dangerous, but rather 

 disposed to be friendly. We had also a party at the 

 vessel, and any indiscretion on their part might have 

 proved fatal to the character of the Expedition. 



The trade of Cazembe and Katanga's country, and of 

 other parts of the interior, crosses Nyassa and the Shire, 

 on its way to the Arab port, Kilwa, and the Portuguese 

 ports of Iboe and Mozambique. At present, slaves, ivory, 

 malachite, and copper ornaments, are the only articles of 

 commerce. According to information collected by Colonel 

 Eigby at Zanzibar, and from other sources, nearly all the 

 slaves shipped from the above-mentioned ports come from 

 the Nyassa district. By means of a small steamer, pur- 

 chasing the ivory of the Lake and Eiver above the 

 cataracts, which together have a shore-line of at least 600 

 miles, the slave-trade in this quarter would be rendered 

 unprofitable, — for it is only by the ivory being carried 

 by the slaves, that the latter do not eat up all the profits 

 of a trip. An influence would be exerted over an enormous 

 area of country, for the Mazitu about the north end of the 

 Lake will not allow slave-traders to pass round that way 

 through their country. They would be most efficient allies 

 to the English, and might themselves be benefited by more 

 intercourse. As things are now, the native traders in 

 ivory and malachite have to submit to heavy exactions ; 

 and if we could give them the same prices which they at 

 present get after carrying their merchandise 300 miles 

 beyond this to the Coast, it might induce them to return 

 without going further. It is only by cutting off the 



