THROUGH ZAMBESI A. 
359 
natural advantages for defence, the Matabeli always 
seem to be able to out - general the unfortunate 
inhabitants. 
Almost every nook and cavern of these well-nigh 
inaccessible mountain fastnesses contains a village or 
town of this hunted people, who never build their 
kraals on the flats or in the valleys. Here we see the 
struggle for existence admirably portrayed—not the 
individual struggling for life, but also the tribe, which 
is likewise a unit among African races. History repeats 
MR. KERR CROSSING A RIVER. 
itself, and even the savage community must have its 
birth, infancy, maturity, decline and death. Mashona 
unity is broken ; they have no longer such pow T er of 
organisation as their neighbours, the Matabeli. They 
live in detached tribes, each one being a little kingdom 
in itself, and only looking towards its own existence. 
It seems as though the ambition for supremacy amongst 
them has faded from their minds, and that their only 
prayer is now for a quiet life. For them all glory has 
fled. 
The diet of the Mashona consists generally of maize, 
