Chap. XVIII. DEMAND FOE GUNPOWDEK AND CALICO. 
331 
that the weak and helpless may injure them by their medical 
knowledge. They have many fears. A man at one of the 
villages we came to, showed us the grave of his child, and 
with much apparent feeling, told us she had been burned to 
death in her hut. He had come with all his family, and built 
huts around it in order to weep for her. He thought, if the 
grave were left unwatched, the witches would come and bewitch 
them by putting medicines on the body. They have a more 
decided belief in the continued existence of departed spirits than 
any of the more southerly tribes. Even the Barotse possess it 
in a strong degree, for one of my men of that tribe, on expe¬ 
riencing headache, said, with a sad and thoughtful countenance, 
‘^My father is scolding me because I do not give him any of 
the food I eat.” I asked where his father was. Among the 
Barimo,” was the reply. 
When we wished to move on, Kabinje refused a guide to the 
next village, because he was at war with it; but after much 
persuasion he consented, provided that the guide should be 
allowed to return as soon as he came in sight of the enemy’s 
village. Tliis we felt to be a misfortune, as the people all sus¬ 
pect a man who comes telling his own tale; but there being 
no help for it, we went on and found the headman of a village 
on the rivulet Kalomba, called Kangenke, a very different man 
from what his enemy represented. We found too that the idea 
of buying and selling, took the place of giving for friendship. 
As I had nothing with wliich to purchase food except a parcel 
of beads which were preserved for worse times, I began to fear 
that we should soon be compelled to suffer more from hunger 
than we had done. The ^Deople demanded gunpowder for 
everything. If we had possessed any quantity of that article 
we should have got on well, for here it is of great value. On 
our return, near this spot we found a good-sized fowl was sold 
for a single charge of gunpowder. Next to that, English calico 
was in great demand, and so were beads; but money was of no 
value whatever. Gold is quite unknown; it is thought to be 
brass; trade is carried on by barter alone. The people know 
nothing of money. A purse-proud person would here feel the 
ground move from beneath his feet. Occasionally a large piece 
of copper, in the shape of a St. Andrew’s cross, is offered for sale. 
