348 THE RIVI-RIVI. Chap. XIII. 



As the Kivi-rivi came from the N.W. we continued to 

 travel along its banks, until we came to people who had 

 successfully defended themselves against the hordes of the 

 Ajawa. By employing the men of one village to go for- 

 ward and explain who we were to the next, we managed 

 to prevent the frightened inhabitants from considering us 

 a fresh party of Ajawa, or of Portuguese slaving agents. 

 Here they had cultivated maize, and were willing to sell, 

 but no persuasion could induce them to give us guides to 

 the chieftainess, Nyango. They evidently felt that we 

 were not to be trusted ; though, as we had to certify to 

 our own character, our companions did not fail " to blow 

 our own trumpet," with blasts in which modesty was 

 quite out of the question. To allay suspicion, we had at 

 last to refrain from mentioning the lady's name. 



It would be wearisome to repeat the names of the 

 villages we passed on our way to the north-west. One 

 was the largest we ever saw in Africa, and quite deserted, 

 with the usual sad sight of many skeletons lying about. 

 Another was called Tette. We know three places of this 

 name, which fact shows it to be a native word ; it seems 

 to mean a place where the water rushes over rocks. A 

 third village was called Chipanga (a great work), a name 

 identical with the Shirpanga of the Portuguese. This 

 repetition of names may indicate that the same people 

 first took these epithets in their traditional passage from 

 north to south. 



At this season of the year the nights are still cold, and 

 the people, having no crops to occupy their attention, do 

 not stir out till long after the sun is up. At other times 

 they are off to their fields before the day dawns, and the 

 first sound one hears is the loud talking of men and 

 women, in which they usually indulge in the dark to 

 scare off beasts by the sound of the human voice. When 

 no work is to be done, the first warning of approaching 

 day is the hemp-snioker's loud ringing cough. 



