276 REED HUTS IN PAPYRUS. CHAP. X. 



involves such an awful waste of human life, — or shall we 

 say of human labour? — and moreover tends directly to 

 perpetuate the barbarism of those who remain in the 

 country, the argument for the continuance of this wasteful 

 course because, forsooth, a fraction of the enslaved may 

 find good masters, seems of no great value. This reason- 

 ing, if not the result of ignorance, may be of maudlin 

 philanthropy. A small armed steamer on Lake Nyassa 

 could easily, by exercising a control, and furnishing goods 

 in exchange for ivory and other products, break the neck 

 of this infamous traffic in that quarter ; for nearly all 

 must cross the Lake or the Upper Shire. 



Our exploration of the Lake extended from the 2nd 

 September to the 27th October, 1861 ; and, having ex- 

 pended or lost most of the goods we had brought, it was 

 necessary to go back to the ship. "When near the southern 

 end, on our return, we were told that a very large slave- 

 party had just crossed to the eastern side. We heard the 

 fire of three guns in the evening, and judged by the report 

 that they must be at least six-pounders. They were said 

 to belong to an Ajawa chief named Mukata. 



In descending the Shire, we found concealed in the 

 broad belt of papyrus round the lakelet Pamalombe, into 

 which the river expands, a number of Manganja families 

 who had been driven from their homes by the Ajawa raids. 

 So thickly did the papyrus grow, that when beat down it 

 supported their small temporary huts, though when they 

 walked from one hut to another, it heaved and bent 

 beneath their feet as thin ice does at home. 



A dense and impenetrable forest of the papyrus was 

 left standing between them and the land, and no one 

 passing by on the same side would ever have suspected 

 that human beings lived there. They came to this spot 

 from the south by means of their canoes, which enabled 

 them to obtain a living from the fine fish which abound 



