CHAP. VI. CORN EXTENSIVELY GROWN. 169 



In travelling from the Kafue to the Zungwe we fre- 

 quently passed several villages in the course of a day's 

 march. In the evening came deputies from the villages, 

 at which we could not stay to sleep, with liberal presents 

 of food. It would have pained them to have allowed 

 strangers to pass without partaking of their hospitality ; 

 repeatedly were we hailed from huts, and asked to wait 

 a moment and drink a little of the beer, which was 

 brought with alacrity. Our march resembled a triumphant 

 procession. We entered and left every village amidst the 

 cheers of its inhabitants; the men clapping their hands, 

 and the women lullilooing, with the shrill call, " Let us 

 sleep," or "Peace." Passing through a hamlet one day, 

 our guide called to the people, " Why do you not clap 

 your hands and salute when you see men who are wishing 

 to bring peace to the land?" When we halted for the 

 night it was no uncommon thing for the people to pre- 

 pare our camp entirely of their own accord ; some with 

 hoes quickly smoothed the ground for our beds, others 

 brought dried grass and spread it carefully over the spot ; 

 some with their small axes speedily made a bush fence 

 to shield us from the wind ; and if, as occasionally hap- 

 pened, the water was a little distance off, others hastened 

 and brought it with firewood to cook our food with. They 

 are an industrious people, and very fond of agriculture. 

 For hours together we marched through unbroken fields 

 of mapira, or native corn, of a great width ; but one can 

 give no idea of the extent of land under the hoe as com- 

 pared with any European country. The extent of surface 

 is so great that the largest fields under culture, when 

 viewed on a wide landscape, dwindle to mere spots. When 

 taken in connection with the wants of the people, the 

 cultivation on the whole is most creditable to their in- 

 dustry. They erect numerous granaries which give their 

 villages the appearance of being large ; and, when the 



