308 VISAGE OF KABINJE. 



westing we were making brought us among people who are 

 frequently visited by the Mambari, as slave-dealers. 

 This trade causes bloodshed ; for when a poor family is 

 selected as the victims, it is necessary to get rid of the 

 older members of it, because they are supposed to be 

 able to give annoyance to the chief afterwards by means 

 of enchantments. The belief in the power of charms for 

 good or evil produces not only honesty, but a great 

 amount of gentle dealing. The powerful are often re- 

 strained in their despotism, from a fear that the weak 

 and helpless may injure them by their medical knowledge. 

 They have many fears. A man at one of the villages we 

 came to, showed us the grave of his child, and with much 

 apparent feeling, told us she had been burned to death in 

 her hut. He had come with all his family, and built huts 

 around it in order to weep for her. He thought, if the 

 grave were left unwatched, the witches would come and 

 bewitch them by putting medicines on the body. They 

 have a more decided belief in the continued existence of 

 departed spirits than any of the more southerly tribes. 

 Even the Barotse possess it in a strong degree, for one of 

 my men of that tribe, on experiencing headache, said, 

 with a sad and thoughtful countenance, " My father is 

 scolding me because I do not give him any of the food 

 I eat." I asked where his father was. " Among the 

 Barimo," was the reply. 



When we wished to move on, Kabinje refused a guide 

 to the next village, because he was at war with it ; but 

 after much persuasion, he consented, provided that the 

 guide should be allowed to return as soon as he came in 

 sight of the enemy's village. This we felt to be a mis- 

 fortune, as the people all suspect a man who comes telling 

 his own tale ; but there being no help for it, we went on 

 and found the headman of a village on the rivulet Kalomba, 

 called Kangenke, a very different man from what his 

 enemy represented. We found too that the idea of buying 

 and selling, took the place of giving for friendship. As I 

 had nothing with which to purchase food except a parcel 

 of beads which were preserved for worse times, I began 

 to fear that we should soon be compelled to surfer more from 

 hunger than we had done. The people demanded gun- 

 powder for everything. If we had possessed any quantity 

 of that article we should have got on well, for here it is of 

 great value. On our' return, near this spot we found a 



