another, to
furnish themselves with slaves, would so inevitably thwart all the
efforts, for which we had the sanction of the Portuguese Government, that
we resolved to run all risks, and put a stop, if possible, to the slave-
trade, which had now followed on the footsteps of our discoveries. A few
minutes after Mbame had spoken to us, the slave party, a long line of
manacled men, women, and children, came wending their way round the hill
and into the valley, on the side of which the village stood. The black
drivers, armed with muskets, and bedecked with various articles of
finery, marched jauntily in the front, middle, and rear of the line; some
of them blowing exultant notes out of long tin horns. They seemed to
feel that they were doing a very noble thing, and might proudly march
with an air of triumph. But the instant the fellows caught a glimpse of
the English, they darted off like mad into the forest; so fast, indeed,
that we caught but a glimpse of their red caps and the soles of their
feet. The chief of the party alone remained; and he, from being in
front, had his hand tightly grasped by a Makololo! He proved to be a
well-known slave of the late Commandant at Tette, and for some time our
own attendant while there. On asking him how he obtained these captives,
he replied he had bought them; but on our inquiring of the people
themselves, all, save four, said they had been captured in war. While
this inquiry was going on, he bolted too. The captives knelt down, and,
in their way of expressing thanks, clapped their hands with great energy.
They were thus left entirely on our hands, and knives were soon busy at
work cutting the women and children loose. It was more difficult to cut
the men adrift, as each had his neck in the fork of a stout stick, six or
seven feet long, and was kept in by an iron rod which was riveted at both
ends across the throat. With a saw, luckily in the Bishop's baggage, one
by one the men were sawn out into freedom. The women, on being told to
take the meal they were carrying and cook breakfast for themselves and
the children, seemed to consider the news too good to be true; but after
a little coaxing went at it with alacrity, and made a capital fire by
which to boil their pots with the slave sticks and bonds, their old
acquaintances through many a sad night and weary day. Many were mere
children about five years of age and under. One little boy, with the
simplicity of childhood,