218 
THE MAMBAEI. 
Chap. XII. 
countries lie traversed. The year of our arrival is dignified by 
the name of the year when the white men came, or of Sebitu- 
ane’s death; but they prefer the former, as they avoid, if pos¬ 
sible, any direct reference to the departed. After my wife’s first 
visit, great numbers of children were named Ma-Eobert, or 
mother of Eobert, her eldest child; others were named Gun, 
Horse, Waggon, Monare, Jesus, &c.; but though our names, and 
those of the native Portuguese who came in 1853, were adopted, 
there is not a trace of anything of the sort having happened 
previously among the Barotse : the visit of a white man is such a 
remarkable event, that, had any taken place during the last three 
hundred years, there must have remained some tradition of it. 
But Santuru was once visited by the Mambari, and a distinct 
recollection of that visit is retained. They came to purchase 
slaves, and both Santuru and his head men refused them per¬ 
mission to buy any of the people. The Makololo quoted this 
precedent when speaking of the Mambari, and said that they, 
as the present masters of the country, had as good a right to 
expel them as Santuru. The Mambari reside near Bihe, under 
an Ambonda chief named Kangombe. They profess to use the 
slaves for domestic purposes alone. 
Some of these Mambari visited us while at Naliele. They 
are of the Ambonda family, which inhabits the country south¬ 
east of Angola, and speak the Bunda dialect, which is of 
the same family of languages with the Barotse, Bayeiye, 
&c., or those black tribes comprehended under the general 
term Makalaka. They plait their hair in three-fold cords, 
and lay them carefully down around the sides of the head. 
They are quite as dark as the Barotse, but have among them a 
number of half-castes, with their peculiar yellow sickly hue. 
On inquhing why they had fled on my approach to Linyanti, 
they let me know that they had a vivid idea of the customs of 
English cruisers on the coast. They showed also their habits 
in their own country by digging up and eating, even here where 
large game abounds, the mice and moles which infest the 
country. The half-castes, or native Portuguese, could all read 
and write, and the head of the party, if not a real Portuguese, 
had European hair, and, influenced probably by the letter of 
recommendation wliich I held from the Chevalier Duprat, His 
