Chap. XXIX. 
BAKWAIN THEOKY OF RAIN. 
595 
country of the Basenga^ who are said to be great workers in iron, 
and to possess abundance of fine kon-ore, which, when broken, 
shows veins of the pure metal in its substance. It has been 
well roasted in the operations of nature. Beyond Senga lies a 
range of mountains called Mashinga, to which the Portuguese 
in former times went to wash for gold, and beyond that, are 
gxeat numbers of tribes which pass under the general term 
Maravi. To the N.E. there are extensive plains destitute of 
trees, but covered with grass, and in some places it is marshy. 
The whole of the country to the north of the Zambesi is asserted 
to be very much more fertile than that to the south. The Maravi, 
for instance, raise sweet potatoes of imm ense size, but when these 
are planted on the southern bank they soon degenerate. The 
root of this plant {convolvulus hatala) does not keep more than 
two or tlu’ee days, unless it is cut into thin slices and dried in the 
sun, but the Maravi manage to preserve them for months by 
digging a pit and burying them therein enclosed in wood-ashes. 
Unfortunately, the Maravi, and all the tribes on that side of the 
country, are at enmity with the Portuguese, and, as they practise 
night attacks in their warfare, it is dangerous to travel among 
them. 
29^A.—I was most sincerely thanlcful to find myself on the 
south bank of the Zambesi, and, having nothing else, I sent back 
one of my two spoons and a shirt as a thank-offering to Mpende. 
The different head-men along this river act very much in concert, 
and if one refuses passage they aU do, uttering the sage remark, 
“ If so-and-so did not lend liis canoes, he must have had some 
good reason.” The next island we came to, was that of a man 
named Mozinkwa. Here we were detained some days by con¬ 
tinuous rains, and thought we observed the confirmation of the 
Bakwain theory of rains. A double tier of clouds floated quickly 
away to the west, and as soon as they began to come in an oppo¬ 
site direction the rains poured down. The inhabitants who live 
in a dry region like that of Kolobeng are nearly all as weather- 
wise as the rainmakers, and any one living amongst them for 
any length of time, becomes as much interested in the motions 
of the clouds as they are themselves. Mr. Moffat, who was as 
sorely tried by droughts as we were, and had his attention directed 
in the same way, has noted the curious phenomenon of thunder 
2 Q 2 
