DISWKE TO SI^AVE BUYERS. 559 



Portuguese, and, although silver is reported to have been 

 found in former times in this district, no one could dis- 

 tinguish it from tin. But they had a knowledge of gold, 

 and for the first time I heard the word " dalama " (gold) 

 in the native language. The word is quite unknown in 

 the interior, and so is the metal itself. In conversing with 

 the different people, we found the idea prevalent that 

 those who had purchased slaves from them had done 

 them an injury. " All the slaves of Nyungwe," said one, 

 " are our children ; the Bazunga have made a town at 

 our expense." When I asked if they had not taken the 

 prices offered them, they at once admitted it, but still 

 thought that they had been injured by being so far 

 tempted. From the way in which the lands of Zumbo 

 were spoken of as still belonging to the Portuguese (and 

 they are said to have been obtained by purchase), I was 

 inclined to conclude that the purchase of land is not 

 looked upon by the inhabitants in the same light as the 

 purchase of slaves. 



February 1st. — We met some native traders, and, as 

 many of my men were now in a state of nudity, I bought 

 some American calico marked " Lawrence Mills, Lowell," 

 with two small tusks, and distributed it amongst the 

 most needy. After leaving Mozinkwa's we came to the 

 Zingesi, a sand rivulet in flood (lat. 15 38' 34" S., long. 

 31 1' E-). It was sixty or seventy yards wide, and 

 waist-deep. Iyike all these sand-rivers, it is for the most 

 part dry ; but by digging down a few feet, water is to be 

 found, which is percolating along the bed on a stratum of 

 clay. This is the phenomenon which is dignified by the 

 name of " a river flowing underground." In trying to 

 ford this I felt thousands of particles of coarse sand 

 striking nry legs, and the slight disturbance of our foot- 

 steps caused deep holes to be made in the bed. The 

 water, which is almost always very rapid in them, dug 

 out the sand beneath our feet in a second or two, and we* 

 were all sinking by that means so deep, that we were glad 

 to relinquish the attempt to ford it before we got halfway 

 over ; the oxen were carried away down into the Zambesi. 

 These sand-rivers remove vast masses of disintegrated 

 rock before it is fine enough to form soil. The man who 

 preceded me was only thigh-deep, but the disturbance 

 caused by his feet made it breast-deep for me. The 

 shower of particles and gravel which struck against my 



