faces--cocks crow briskly, even when
slung over the shoulder with their heads hanging down, and pigs squeal.
Iron knobs, drawn out at each end to show the goodness of the metal, are
exchanged for cloth of the Muabe palm. They have a large funnel of
basket-work below the vessel holding the wares, and slip the goods down
if they are not to be seen. They deal fairly, and when differences arise
they are easily settled by the men interfering or pointing to me: they
appeal to each other, and have a strong sense of natural justice. With
so much food changing hands amongst the three thousand attendants much
benefit is derived; some come from twenty to twenty-five miles. The men
flaunt about in gaudy-coloured lambas of many folded kilts--the women
work hardest--the potters slap and ring their earthenware all round, to
show that there is not a single flaw in them. I bought two finely shaped
earthen bottles of porous earthenware, to hold a gallon each, for one
string of beads, the women carry huge loads of them in their funnels
above the baskets, strapped to the shoulders and forehead, and their
hands are full besides; the roundness of the vessels is wonderful,
seeing no machine is used: no slaves could be induced to carry half as
much as they do willingly. It is a scene of the finest natural acting
imaginable. The eagerness with which all sorts of assertions are
made--the eager earnestness with which apparently all creation, above,
around, and beneath, is called on to attest the truth of what they
allege--and then the intense surprise and withering scorn cast on those
who despise their goods: but they show no concern when the buyers turn
up their noses at them. Little girls run about selling cups of water for
a few small fishes to the half-exhausted wordy combatants. To me it was
an amusing scene. I could not understand the words that flowed off their
glib tongues, but the gestures were too expressive to need
interpretation.

_27th May, 1871._--Hassani told me that since he had come, no Manyuema
had ever presented him with a single mouthful of food, not even a potato
or banana, and he had made many presents. Going from him into the market
I noticed that one man presented a few small fishes, another a sweet
potato and a piece of cassava, and a third two small fishes, but the
Manyuema are not a liberal people. Old men and women who remained in the
half-deserted villages we passed through in coming north, often ran
forth to present