158 rev. r. moffat's mission. Chap. VI. 



village a short distance above the ford. The people here 

 are of Batoka origin, the same as many of our men, and 

 call themselves Batonga (independents), or Balengi, and 

 their language only differs slightly from that of the 

 Bakoa, who live between the two rivers Kafue and 

 Loangwa. The paramount chief of the district lives to 

 the west of this place, and is called Nchomokela — an 

 hereditary title : the family burying-place is on a small 

 hill near this village. The women salute us by clapping 

 their hands and lullilooing as we enter and leave a village, 

 and the men, as they think, respectfully clap their hands 

 on their hips. Immense crops of mapira (holcus sorghum) 

 are raised ; one species of it forms a natural bend on the 

 seed-stalk, so that the massive ear hangs down. The 

 grain was heaped up on wooden stages, and so was a 

 variety of other products. The men are skilful hunters, 

 and kill elephants and buffaloes with long heavy spears. 

 We halted a few minutes on the morning of the 12th 

 July, opposite the narrow island of Sikakoa, which has a 

 village on its lower end. We were here told that 

 Moselekatse's chief town is a month's distance from this 

 place. They had heard, moreover, that the English had 

 come to Moselekatse, and told him it was wrong to kill 

 men ; and he had replied that he was born to kill people, 

 but would drop the habit ; and, since the English came, 

 he had sent out his men, not to kill as of yore, but to 

 collect tribute of cloth and ivory. This report referred 

 to the arrival of the Eev. E. Moffat, of Kuruman, who, we 

 afterwards found, had established a mission. The state- 

 ment is interesting as showing that, though imperfectly 

 expressed, the purport of the missionaries' teaching had 

 travelled, in a short time, over 300 miles, and we know 

 not how far the knowledge of the English operations on 

 the coast spread inland. 



When abreast of the high wooded island Kalabi we 



