CHAP. IV. PATH THROUGH KEBRABASA HILLS. 113 



direction behind one of the hill ranges, the eastern end of 

 which is called Mongwa, the name of an acacia, having a 

 peculiarly strong fetor, found on it. Our route wound up 

 a valley along a small mountain-stream which was nearly 

 dry, and then crossed the rocky spurs of some of the lofty 

 hills. The country was all very dry at the time, and no 

 water was found except in an occasional spring and a few 

 wells dug in the beds of watercourses. The people were 

 poor, and always anxious to convince travellers of the fact. 

 The men, unlike those on the plains, spend a good deal of 

 their time in hunting ; this may be because they have but 

 little ground on the hill-sides suitable for gardens, and 

 but little certainty of reaping what may be sown in the 

 valleys. No women came forward in the hamlet, east of 

 Chiperiziwa, where we halted for the night. Two shot* 

 had been fired at guinea-fowl a little way off in the valley ; 

 the women fled into the woods, and the men came to know 

 if war was meant, and a few of the old folks only returned 

 after hearing that we were for peace. The headman, 

 Kambira, apologized for not having a present ready, and 

 afterwards brought us some meal, a roasted coney (Hyrax 

 capensis), and a pot of beer ; he wished to be thought poor. 

 The beer had come to him from a distance ; he had none 

 of his own. Like the Manganja, these people salute by 

 clapping their hands. When a man comes to a place 

 where others are seated, before sitting down he claps his 

 hands to each in succession, and they do the same to him. 

 If he has anything to tell, both speaker and hearer clap 

 their hands at the close of every paragraph, and then 

 again vigorously at the end of the speech. The guide, 

 whom the headman gave us, thus saluted each of his 

 comrades before he started off with us. There is so little 

 difference in the language, that all the tribes of thiss 

 region are virtually of one family. 



We proceeded still in the same direction, and passed 



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