for the meat, but Chisabi
ordered the men to let his meat alone: experience at Kabwabwata said,
"Take the gentle course," so two fathoms of calico and two hoes were
sent to propitiate the chief; Chisabi then demanded half the meat and
one tusk: the meat was given, but the tusk was mildly refused: he is
but a youth, and this is only the act of his counsellors. It was
replied that Casembe, Chikumbi, Nsama, Merere, made no demand at all:
his counsellors have probably heard of the Portuguese self-imposed
law, and wish to introduce it here, but both tusks were secured.

_22nd December, 1868._--We crossed the Lofunso River, wading three
branches, the first of forty-seven yards, then the river itself, fifty
yards, and neck deep to men and women of ordinary size. Two were swept
away and drowned; other two were rescued by men leaping in and saving
them, one of whom was my man Susi. A crocodile bit one person badly,
but was struck, and driven off. Two slaves escaped by night; a woman
loosed her husband's yoke from the tree, and got clear off.

_24th December, 1868._--Five sick people detain us to-day; some cannot
walk from feebleness and purging brought on by sleeping on the damp
ground without clothes.

Syde bin Habib reports a peculiar breed of goats in Rua, remarkably
short in the legs, so much so, that they cannot travel far; they give
much milk, and become very fat, but the meat is indifferent. Gold is
found at Katanga in the pool of a waterfall only: it probably comes
from the rocks above this. His account of the Lofu, or, as he says,
West Lualaba, is identical with that of his cousin, Syde bin Omar; it
flows north, but west of Lufira, into the Lake of Kinkonza, so named
after the chief. The East Lualaba becomes very large, often as much as
six or eight miles broad, with many inhabited islands, the people of
which, being safe from invasion, are consequently rapacious and
dishonest, and their chiefs, Moenge and Nyamakunda, are equally
lawless. A hunter, belonging to Syde, named Kabwebwa, gave much
information gleaned during his hunting trips; for instance, the Lufira
has nine feeders of large size; and one, the Lekulwe, has also nine
feeders; another, the Kisungu, is covered with, "tikatika," by which
the people cross it, though it bends under their weight; he also
ascribes the origin of the Lufira and the Lualaba West, or Lofu, with
the Liambai to one large earthen mound, which he calls "segulo," or an
anthill!

_25th