er. We had the Likindazi, a sedgy stream, with hippopotami, on
our right. Slept in forest without seeing anyone. Then next day we met
with a party who had come from their village to look for us. We were
now in Lobemba, but these villagers had nothing but hopes of plenty at
Chitapangwa's. This village had half a mile of ooze and sludgy marsh
in front of it, and a stockade as usual. We observed that the people
had great fear of animals at night, and shut the gates carefully, of
even temporary villages. When at Molemba (Chitapangwa's village)
afterwards, two men were killed by a lion, and great fear of
crocodiles was expressed by our canoe-man at the Chambeze, when one
washed in the margin of that river. There was evidence of abundance of
game, elephants, and buffaloes, but we saw none.

_29th January, 1867._--When near our next stage end we were shown
where lightning had struck; it ran down a gum-copal tree without
damaging it, then ten yards horizontally, and dividing there into two
streams it went up an anthill; the withered grass showed its course
very plainly, and next day (31st), on the banks of the Mabula, we saw
a dry tree which had been struck; large splinters had been riven off
and thrown a distance of sixty yards in one direction and thirty yards
in another: only a stump was left, and patches of withered grass where
it had gone horizontally.

_30th January, 1867._--Northwards through almost trackless dripping
forests and across oozing bogs.

_31st January, 1867._--Through forest, but gardens of larger size than
in Lobisa now appear. A man offered a thick bar of copper for sale, a
foot by three inches. The hard-leafed acacia and mohempi abound. The
valleys, with the oozes, have a species of grass, having pink
seed-stalks and yellow seeds: this is very pretty. At midday we came
to the Lopiri, the rivulet which waters Chitapanga's stockade, and
soon after found that his village has a triple stockade, the inner
being defended also by a deep broad ditch and hedge of a solanaceous
thorny shrub. It is about 200 yards broad and 500 long. The huts not
planted very closely.

The rivulets were all making for the Chambeze. They contain no fish,
except very small ones--probably fry. On the other, or western side
of the ridge, near which "Malemba" is situated, fish abound worth
catching.

[Illustration: Chitapangwa]

Chitapangwa, or Motoka, as he is also called, sent to inquire if we
wanted an audience. "We must take