NATIVE PISTOLS. 291 



wished to obstruct, and giving him a slap in the face." It would appear that, 

 like many combative people nearer home, he was only " pot valiant." 



They very rarely wash, and are consequently very dirty. An old man 

 told them that he had once washed, but it was so long since that he did not 

 remember how he felt ; and the women asked the Makololo, " Why do 

 you wash; our men never do?" As might have been expected, skin 

 diseases were common. They believe in a Divine being whom they call 

 Morungo, and in a future state ; but where or in what condition the spirits 

 of the dead exist, they do not know, as although the dead, they say, sometimes 

 return to the living, and appear to them in their dreams, they never tell them 

 how they fare, or whither they have gone. 



"Our friends the Portuguese do not enter the River Shire: theManganja 

 are brave, and repelled an expedition sent in former times before it had gone 

 30 miles. Traders are afraid to go, as some native ones have been plundered ; 

 but we have gone about 150 miles without once coming into collision. The 

 Manganja cultivate the soil very extensively, and more men than women were 

 sometimes seen at this occupation. The soil is very rich : the grass, generally 

 from 6 to 8 feet high, overhangs the path, which, from being only about a foot 

 wide, there is a perpetual pattering on the face in walking. A few yards often 

 hides a companion completely, and guides are always necessary, it being 

 impossible to see, on entering a path, where it leads. Even the hills, though 

 very steep and stony, are remarkably fertile. Gardens are common high up 

 their sides and on their tops : they present a pleasant diversity of light and 

 shade in the general dark green colour of the trees, with which nearly all are 

 covered. Cotton is cultivated largely, and the farther we went the crop 

 appeared to be of the greater importance. The women alone are well clothed 

 with the produce, the men being content with goat-skins and a cloth made of 

 bark of certain trees. Every one spins and weaves cotton : even chiefs may 

 be seen with the spindle and bag, which serves as a distaff. The process of 

 manufacture is the most rude and tedious that can be conceived : the cotton 

 goes through five processes with the fingers before it comes to the loom. Time is 

 of no value. They possess two varieties of the cotton plant. One, indigenous, 

 yields cotton more like wool than that of other countries : it is strong, and feels 

 rough in the hand. The other variety is from imported seed, yielding a 

 cotton that renders it unnecessary to furnish the people with American seed. 

 A point in its culture worth noticing is, the time of planting has been selected 

 so that the plants remain in the ground during winter, and five months or so 

 after sowing they come to maturity before the rains begin, or insects come 

 forth to damage the crop. 



" The Manganja have no domestic animals except sheep, goats, fowls, 

 and dogs. Provisions are abundant, and at a cheap rate. They have no 

 ivory, and few wild animals are seen; but they assert that elephants and 



