374 COUNTRY OF THE WABISA. Chap. XIV. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Important geographical discoveries in the Wabisa countries — Cruelty 

 of the slave-trade — The Mazitu — Serious illness of Dr. Living- 

 stone — Keturn to the ship. 



In our course westwards, we at first passed over a gently 

 undulating country, with a reddish clayey soil, which, 

 from the heavy crops, appeared to be very fertile. Many 

 rivulets were crossed, some running southwards into the 

 Bua, and others northwards into the Loangwa, a river 

 which we formerly saw flowing into the Lake. Further 

 on, the water was chiefly found in pools and wells. Then 

 still further, in the same direction, some watercourses 

 were said to flow into that same " Loangwa of the Lake," 

 and others into the Loangwa, which flows to the south- 

 west, and enters the Zambesi at Zumbo, and is here called 

 the " Loangwa of the Maravi." The trees were in general 

 scraggy, and covered, exactly as they are in the damp 

 climate of the Coast, with lichens, resembling orchilla- 

 weed. The maize, which loves rather a damp soil, had 

 been planted on ridges to allow the superfluous moisture 

 to run off. Everything indicated a very humid climate, 

 and the people warned us that, as the rains were near, 

 we were likely to be prevented from returning by the 

 country becoming flooded and impassable. 



Villages, as usual encircled by euphorbia hedges, were 



