ture consumption.

As we ascended, we passed a deep stream about thirty yards wide, flowing
in from a body of open water several miles broad. Numbers of men were
busy at different parts of it, filling their canoes with the lotus root,
called _Nyika_, which, when boiled or roasted, resembles our chestnuts,
and is extensively used in Africa as food. Out of this lagoon, and by
this stream, the chief part of the duckweed of the Shire flows. The
lagoon itself is called Nyanja ea Motope (Lake of Mud). It is also named
Nyanja Pangono (Little Lake), while the elephant marsh goes by the name
of Nyanja Mukulu (Great Lake). It is evident from the shore line still
to be observed on the adjacent hills, that in ancient times these were
really lakes, and the traditional names thus preserved are only another
evidence of the general desiccation which Africa has undergone.

CHAPTER III.

The Steamer in difficulties--Elephant hunting--Arrival at
Chibisa's--Search for Lake Nyassa--The Manganja country--Weavers and
smelters--Lake Pamalombe.

Late in the afternoon of the first day's steaming, after we left the
wooding-place, we called at the village of Chikanda-Kadze, a female
chief, to purchase rice for our men; but we were now in the blissful
region where time is absolutely of no account, and where men may sit down
and rest themselves when tired; so they requested us to wait till next
day, and they would then sell us some food. As our forty black men,
however, had nothing to cook for supper, we were obliged to steam on to
reach a village a few miles above. When we meet those who care not
whether we purchase or let it alone, or who think men ought only to be in
a hurry when fleeing from an enemy, our ideas about time being money, and
the power of the purse, receives a shock. The state of eager
competition, which in England wears out both mind and body, and makes
life bitter, is here happily unknown. The cultivated spots are mere dots
compared to the broad fields of rich soil which is never either grazed or
tilled. Pity that the plenty in store for all, from our Father's
bountiful hands, is not enjoyed by more.

The wretched little steamer could not carry all the hands we needed; so,
to lighten her, we put some into the boats and towed them astern. In the
dark, one of the boats was capsized; but all in it, except one poor
fellow who could not swim, were picked up. His loss threw a gloom over
us all, and added to the ch