THROUGH ZAMBESI A. 367 
promised him rifles for gold, and when in good faith he 
had sent the gold, they had only sent him some cloth. 
The bearers of the cloth, therefore, he had kept as 
hostages, or rather prisoners, and would not release 
them until the promised rifles were sent. All this he 
wished me to say when I got to Cliibinga. 
I asked him if the people were white. His reply was, 
that they were not like me, but they called them Mzungo. 
GOLD WASHING AT THE HSINGDA 1UVER. 
Then he continued, at intervals, to count with his fingers, 
showing me, with three extended, the others closed, how 
Ion 2 ; it would take to reach Chibinoa. 
At that time I thought, according to a hasty reckon¬ 
ing, which afterwards turned out to be correct, that we 
were still over seventy-three miles, in a straight line, 
from the river. Without including the natural devia¬ 
tions of travelling, this distance would mean twenty-four 
miles’ journey every day. These men of mine could 
