a few inches deep, are made irregularly over the surface of the mound,
and about eight or ten grains put into each: these are watered by hand
and calabash, and kept growing till the rains set in, when a very
early crop is secured.

_13th October, 1866._--After leaving Phunze, we crossed the Levinge, a
rivulet which flows northwards, and then into Lake Nyassa; the lines
of gentle undulation tend in that direction. Some hills appear on the
plains, but after the mountains which we have left behind they are
mere mounds. We are over 3000 feet above the sea, and the air is
delicious; but we often pass spots covered with a plant which grows in
marshy places, and its heavy smell always puts me in mind that at
other seasons this may not be so pleasant a residence. The fact of
even maize being planted on mounds where the ground is naturally quite
dry, tells a tale of abundant humidity of climate.

Kauma, a fine tall man, with a bald head and pleasant manners, told us
that some of his people had lately returned from the Chibisa or Babisa
country, whither they had gone to buy ivory, and they would give me
information about the path. He took a fancy to one of the boys'
blankets; offering a native cloth, much larger, in exchange, and even
a sheep to boot; but the owner being unwilling to part with his
covering, Kauma told me that he had not sent for his Babisa travellers
on account of my boy refusing to deal with him. A little childish
this, but otherwise he was very hospitable; he gave me a fine goat,
which, unfortunately, my people left behind.

The chief said that no Arabs ever came his way, nor Portuguese native
traders. When advising them to avoid the first attempts to begin the
slave-trade, as it would inevitably lead to war and depopulation,
Kauma replied that the chiefs had resolved to unite against the Waiyau
of Mponde should he come again on a foray up to the highlands; but
they are like a rope of sand, there is no cohesion among them, and
each village is nearly independent of every other: they mutually
distrust each other.

_14th October, 1866._--Spent Sunday here. Kauma says that his people
are partly Kanthunda and partly Chipeta. The first are the
mountaineers, the second dwellers on the plains. The Chipeta have many
lines of marking: they are all only divisions of the great Manganja
tribe, and their dialects differ very slightly from that spoken by the
same people on the Shire. The population is very great and very