354 katosa's VILLAGE. Chap. XIII. 



situated on the bank of a stream among gigantic timber 

 trees, and found there a large party of Ajawa — Waiau, they 

 called themselves — all armed with muskets. We sat down 

 among them, and were soon called to the chiefs court, and 

 presented with an ample mess of porridge, buffalo meat, and 

 beer. Katosa was more frank than any Manganja chief we 

 had met, and complimented us by saying that " we must be 

 his ' Bazimo ' (good spirits of his ancestors) ; for when he 

 lived at Pamalombe, we lighted upon him from above — 

 men the like of whom he had never seen before, and coming 

 he knew not whence." He gave us one of his own large 

 and clean huts to sleep in; and we may take this oppor- 

 tunity of saying that the impression we received, from 

 our first journey on the hills among the villages of Chi- 

 sunse, of the excessive dirtiness of the Manganja, was 

 erroneous. This trait was confined to the cool highlands. 

 Here crowds of men and women were observed to perform 

 their ablutions daily in the stream that ran past their 

 villages ; and this we have observed elsewhere to be a 

 common custom with both Manganja and Ajawa. 



Before we started on the morning of the 1st Septem- 

 ber, Katosa sent an enormous calabash of beer, containing 

 at least three gallons, and then came and wished us to 

 " stop a day and eat with him." On explaining to him 

 the reasons for our haste, he said that he was in the way 

 by which travellers usually passed, he never stopped them 

 in their journeys, but would like to look at us for a day. 

 On our promising to rest a little with him on our return, 

 he gave us about two pecks of rice, and three guides to 

 conduct us to a subordinate female chief, Nkwinda, living 

 on the borders of the Lake in front. 



The Ajawa, from having taken slaves down to Quilli- 

 mane and Mosambique, knew more of us than Katosa did. 

 Their muskets were carefully polished, and never out of 

 these slaver's hands for a moment, though in the chief's 



