396 BRISK SLAVE-TRADING. Chap. XIV. 



or of the people whose country was traversed by Speke 

 and Grant. 



In our way back from Chinsamba's to Chembi's and 

 from his village to Nkwinda's, and thence to Katosa's, we 

 only saw the people working in their gardens, near to the 

 stockades. These strongholds were strengthened with 

 branches of acacias, covered with strong hooked thorns ; 

 and were all crowded with people. The air was now 

 clearer than when we went north, and we could see the 

 hills of Kirk's Eange five or six miles to the west of our 

 path. The sun struck very hot, and the men felt it most 

 in their feet. Every one who could get a bit of goatskin 

 made it into a pair of sandals. 



While sitting at Nkwinda's, a man behind the court 

 hedge-wall said, with great apparent glee, that an Arab 

 slaving party on the other side of the confluence of the 

 Shire and Lake were " giving readily two fathoms of 

 calico for a boy, and two and a half for a girl ; never saw 

 trade so brisk, no haggling at all." This party was pur- 

 chasing for the supply of the ocean slave-trade. One of 

 the evils of this traffic is that it profits by every calamity 

 that happens in a country. The slave-trader naturally 

 reaps advantage from every disorder, and though in the 

 present case some lives may have been saved that other- 

 wise would have perished, as a rule he intensifies hatreds, 

 and aggravates wars between the tribes, because the more 

 they fight and vanquish each other the richer his harvest 

 becomes. Where slaving and cattle are unknown the 

 people live in peace. As we sat leaning against that 

 hedge, and listened to the harangue of the slave-trader's 

 agent, it glanced across our mind that this was a terrible 

 world ; the best in it unable, from conscious imperfections, 

 to say to the worst " Stand by! for I am holier than thou." 

 The slave-trader, imbued no doubt with certain kindly 

 feelings, yet pursuing a calling which makes him a fair 



