scended this river one hundred
miles in the 'Ma-Robert,' then left the vessel and proceeded
beyond that on foot till we had discovered a magnificent lake
called Shirwa (pronounced Shurwah). It was very grand, for we
could not see the end of it, though some way up a mountain;
and all around it are mountains much higher than any you see
in Scotland. One mountain stands in the lake, and people live
on it. Another, called Zomba, is more than six thousand feet
high, and people live on it too, for we could see their
gardens on its top, which is larger than from Glasgow to
Hamilton, or about from fifteen to eighteen miles. The
country is quite a Highland region, and many people live in
it. Most of them were afraid of us. The women ran into their
huts and shut the doors. The children screamed in terror, and
even the hens would fly away and leave their chickens. I
suppose you would be frightened, too, if you saw strange
creatures, say a lot of Trundlemen, like those on the Isle of
Man pennies, come whirling up the street. No one was impudent
to us except some slave-traders, but they became civil as
soon as they learned we were English and not Portuguese. We
saw the sticks they employ for training any one whom they
have just bought. One is is about eight feet long, the head,
or neck rather, is put into the space between the dotted
lines and shaft, and another slave carries the end. When they
are considered tame they are allowed to go in chains.

[Illustration]

"I am working in the hope that in the course of time this
horrid system may cease. All the country we traveled through
is capable of growing cotton and sugar, and the people now
cultivate a good deal. They would grow much more if they
could only sell it. At present we in England are the mainstay
of slavery in America and elsewhere by buying slave-grown
produce. Here there are hundreds of miles of land lying
waste, and so rich that the grass towers far over one's head
in walking. You cannot see where the narrow paths end, the
grass is so tall and overhangs them so. If our countrymen
were here they would soon render slave-buying unprofitable.
Perhaps God may honor us to open up the way for this. My
heart is sore when I think of so many of our countrymen in
poverty and misery, whi