MAZ1TU SLA YE TRADERS. 337 



chimed in a third : { and the bag of leads ! and the rice I ' 'Is the cloth gone 

 too ? ' ' No ; it's all safe : I used it for a pillow.' 



" ' There is honour among thieves,' it is said. These Nyassa scoundrels 

 left on the beach our aneroid barometer and a new pair of boots, thinking, 

 perhaps, that they might be of use to us though of none to them. It was 

 rather humiliating to be so completely done for by a few black thieves. 



" A few of the best fisheries seem to be the private property of indi- 

 viduals. We found shelter from a storm one morning in a spacious lagoon 

 which communicated with the lake by a narrow passage. Across this strait 

 stakes were driven in, leaving spaces for the fish-baskets. About a score of 

 men were busily engaged in taking out the fish. We tried to purchase some, 

 but they refused to sell. ' The fish were not theirs, they belonged to a man 

 in a neighbouring village : they would send for the owner.' In a short time 

 the gentleman made his appearance, and sold us some. He did not appear 

 to be the chief, but one who owned, or had farmed out, this very productive 

 fishery. 



" Some of their burying-grounds are wonderfully well arranged and 

 cared for. One of these was on the southern shore of the fine harbour in the 

 great bay. A neat and wide path was made on its east and south sides. A 

 grand, old, sacred fig-tree stood on the north-east corner, and its wide-spread- 

 ing branches threw their kindly shade over this last resting-place of the dead. 

 Other splendid trees grew around the hallowed spot. The graves were raised 

 exactly as they are at home, but lay north and south, the heads being at the 

 north. The graves of the sexes were distinguished by the implements which 

 the buried dead had been accustomed to use in their respective occupations, 

 while amidst the joys of life. The heavy stick used in pounding corn, one 

 end in the grave and the other thrust through the basket in which the meal 

 is sifted, showed that a woman slept beneath the sod ; a piece of fishing-net 

 and a broken paddle were over the grave of a fisherman, and all the graves 

 had numerous broken pots arranged around them. At the head of some a 

 banana-tree had been carefully planted. The people of the neighbouring 

 village were friendly, and readily brought us food for sale." 



On the northern shore of the lake the Mazitu had settled, and were carrying 

 on the slave trade with terrible rigour, sweeping away the helpless people like 

 sheep. They had frequently attacked Marenga and his people ; but the thickets 

 and stockades around their villages enabled the bowmen to pick off the Mazitu 

 in security, and they were driven off. Many of the Mazitu were settled on 

 islands in the lake, from which they emerged to plunder and make captive 

 the peaceable inhabitants on the shores of the lake. Long tracts of country 

 were passed through where "the population had all been swept away; ruined 

 villages, broken utensils, and human skeletons, met with at every turn, told a 

 sad tale of ' man's inhumanity to man.' The extent of the trade done in slaves 



T 1 



