543 ZUMBO — ITS PEOPLE. 



as to cover the seams below. Hence you frequently find 

 the joinings forming one seam from the top to the bottom. 

 Much mortar or clay had been used to cover defects, and 

 now trees of the fig family grow upon the walls, and 

 clasp them with their roots. When the clay is moistened, 

 masses of the walls come down by wholesale. Some of 

 the rafters and beams had fallen in, but were entire, and 

 there were some trees in the middle of the houses as large 

 as a man's body. On the opposite or south bank of the 

 Zambesi, we saw the remains of a wall on a height which 

 was probably a fort, and the church stood at a central 



J)oint, formed by the right bank of the I^oangwa and the 

 eft of the Zambesi. 



The situation of Zumbo was admirably well chosen as 

 a site for commerce. looking backwards we see a mass 

 of high, dark mountains, covered with trees ; behind us 

 rises the fine high hill Mazanzwe, which stretches away 

 northwards along the left bank of the Loangwa ; to the 

 S.B. lies an open country with a small round hill in the 

 distance called Tofulo. The merchants, as they sat 

 beneath the verandahs in front of their houses, had a 

 magnificent view of the two rivers at their confluence ; 

 of their church at the angle ; and of all the gardens which 

 they had on both sides of the rivers. In these they culti- 

 vated wheat without irrigation, and, as the Portuguese 

 assert, of a grain twice the size of that at Tete. From the 

 guides we learnt that the inhabitants had not imbibed 

 much idea of Christianity, for they used the same term 

 for the church bell which they did for a diviner's drum. 

 From this point the merchants had water communication 

 in three directions beyond — namely, from the I/^angwa 

 to the N.N.W., by the Kafue to the W., and by the 

 Zambesi to the S.W. Their attention, however, was 

 chiefly attracted to the N. or Londa ; and the principal 

 articles of trade were ivory and slaves. Private enter- 

 prise was always restrained, for the colonies of the 

 Portuguese being strictly military, and the pay of the 

 commandants being very small, the officers have always 

 been obliged to engage in trade ; and had they not 

 employed their power to draw the trade to themselves, by 

 preventing private traders from making bargains beyond 

 the villages, and only at regulated prices, they would 

 have had no trade, as they themselves were obliged to 

 remain always at their posts. 



