148 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA, 



slaves, and a little copper from Katata or Katanga, a 

 district distant fifteen marches north-west of Usenda, 

 the now well-known capital of the great chief Kazembe. 

 The grandfather of the present Kazembe, the "viceroy" 

 of the country lying south-west of the Tanganyika, and 

 feudatory to Mwata ya Nvo, the sovereign of " Uro- 

 pua," was first visited by Dr. Lacerda, governor of the 

 Kios de Sena, in 1798-99. The traveller died, how- 

 ever, after being nine months in the country, without 

 recording the name and position of the African capital ; 

 the former was supplied by the expedition sent under 

 Major Monteiro and Captain Gamitto in 1831-32 ; it is 

 variously pronounced Lucenda, Luenda, and by the 

 Arabs Usenda, the difference being caused probably by 

 dialect or inflexion. According to the Arabs, the 

 Kazembe visited by the Portuguese expedition in 1831, 

 died about 1837, and was succeeded by his son the 

 present chief. He is described as a man of middle age, 

 of light-coloured complexion, handsomely dressed in a 

 Surat cap, silk coat, and embroidered loin cloth ; he is 

 rich in copper, ivory, and slaves, cloth and furniture, 

 muskets and gunpowder. Many Arabs, probably 

 half-castes, are said to be living with him in high 

 esteem, and the medium of intercourse is the Kisawa- 

 hili. Though he has many wives, he allows his subjects 

 but one each, puts both adulterer and adulteress to 

 death, and generally punishes by gouging out one or 

 both eyes. 



On the Uruwwa route caravans are composed wholly 

 of private slaves ; the races of the Tanganyika will not 

 carry loads, and the Wanyamwezi, unmaritime savages 

 like the Kafirs, who have a mortal dread and abhor- 

 rence of water, refuse to advance beyond Ujiji. On 

 account of its dangers, the thriving merchants have 



