lief in the Supreme Being was not
rooted. He is so invariably referred to as the Author of everything
supernatural, that, unless one is ignorant of their language, he cannot
fail to notice this prominent feature of their faith. When they pass
into the unseen world, they do not seem to be possessed with the fear of
punishment. The utensils placed upon the grave are all broken as if to
indicate that they will never be used by the departed again. The body is
put into the grave in a sitting posture, and the hands are folded in
front. In some parts of the country there are tales which we could
translate into faint glimmerings of a resurrection; but whether these
fables, handed down from age to age, convey that meaning to the natives
themselves we cannot tell. The true tradition of faith is asserted to be
"though a man die he will live again;" the false that when he dies he is
dead for ever.

CHAPTER XIV.

Important geographical discoveries in the Wabisa countries--Cruelty of
the slave-trade--The Mazitu--Serious illness of Dr. Livingstone--Return
to the ship.

In our course westwards, we at first passed over a gently undulating
country, with a reddish clayey soil, which, from the heavy crops,
appeared to be very fertile. Many rivulets were crossed, some running
southwards into the Bua, and others northwards into the Loangwa, a river
which we formerly saw flowing into the Lake. Further on, the water was
chiefly found in pools and wells. Then still further, in the same
direction, some watercourses were said to flow into that same "Loangwa of
the Lake," and others into the Loangwa, which flows to the south-west,
and enters the Zambesi at Zumbo, and is here called the "Loangwa of the
Maravi." The trees were in general scraggy, and covered, exactly as they
are in the damp climate of the Coast, with lichens, resembling orchilla-
weed. The maize, which loves rather a damp soil, had been planted on
ridges to allow the superfluous moisture to run off. Everything
indicated a very humid climate, and the people warned us that, as the
rains were near, we were likely to be prevented from returning by the
country becoming flooded and impassable.

Villages, as usual encircled by euphorbia hedges, were numerous, and a
great deal of grain had been cultivated around them. Domestic fowls, in
plenty, and pigeons with dovecots like those in Egypt were seen. The
people call themselves Matumboka, but the only difference betwe