378 A FLAT COUNTRY. Chap. XIV. 



go three days with us, before turning, and then further 

 progress must depend on ourselves." Some of our men 

 having been ill ever since we mounted this highland plain, 

 we remained two days with Muazi. 



A herd of fine cattle showed that no tsetse existed in 

 the district. They had the Indian hump, and were very 

 fat, and very tame. The boys rode on both cows and bulls 

 without fear, and the animals were so fat and lazy, that 

 the old ones only made a feeble attempt to kick their 

 young tormentors. Muazi never milks the cows ; he 

 complained that, but for the Mazitu having formerly 

 captured some, he should now have had very many. 

 They wander over the country at large, and certainly 

 thrive. 



After leaving Muazi's, we passed over a flat country 

 sparsely covered with the scraggy upland trees, but 

 brightened with many fine flowers. The grass was short, 

 reaching no higher than the knee, and growing in tufts 

 with bare spaces between, though the trees were draped 

 with many various lichens, and showed a moist climate. 

 A high and very sharp wind blew over the flats; its 

 piercing keenness was not caused by low temperature, for 

 the thermometer stood at 80°. 



We were now on the sources of the Loangwa of the 

 Maravi, which enters the Zambesi at Zumbo, and were 

 struck by the great resemblance which the boggy and 

 sedgy streams here presented to the sources of the Leeba, 

 an affluent of the Zambesi formerly observed in Londa, 

 and of the Kasai, which some believe to be the principal 

 branch of the Congo or Zaire. 



We had taken pains to ascertain from the travelled 

 Babisa and Arabs as much as possible about the country 

 in front, which, from the lessening time we had at our 

 disposal, we feared we could scarcely reach, and had heard 

 a good deal of a small lake called Bemba. As we pro- 



