any us came and told us before our departure
that his wife would not allow him to go, and she herself came to confirm
the decision. Here the women have only a small puncture in the upper
lip, in which they insert a little button of tin. The perforation is
made by degrees, a ring with an opening in it being attached to the
lip, and the ends squeezed gradually together. The pressure on the flesh
between the ends of the ring causes its absorption, and a hole is the
result. Children may be seen with the ring on the lip, but not yet
punctured. The tin they purchase from the Portuguese, and, although
silver is reported to have been found in former times in this district,
no one could distinguish it from tin. But they had a knowledge of gold,
and for the first time I heard the word "dalama" (gold) in the native
language. The word is quite unknown in the interior, and so is the
metal itself. In conversing with the different people, we found the idea
prevalent that those who had purchased slaves from them had done them
an injury. "All the slaves of Nyungwe," said one, "are our children; the
Bazunga have made a town at our expense." When I asked if they had
not taken the prices offered them, they at once admitted it, but still
thought that they had been injured by being so far tempted. From the
way in which the lands of Zumbo were spoken of as still belonging to the
Portuguese (and they are said to have been obtained by purchase), I was
inclined to conclude that the purchase of land is not looked upon by the
inhabitants in the same light as the purchase of slaves.

FEBRUARY 1ST. We met some native traders, and, as many of my men were
now in a state of nudity, I bought some American calico marked "Lawrence
Mills, Lowell", with two small tusks, and distributed it among the most
needy. After leaving Mozinkwa's we came to the Zingesi, a sand-rivulet
in flood (lat. 15d 38' 34" S., long. 31d 1' E.). It was sixty or seventy
yards wide, and waist-deep. Like all these sand-rivers, it is for the
most part dry; but by digging down a few feet, water is to be found,
which is percolating along the bed on a stratum of clay. This is the
phenomenon which is dignified by the name of "a river flowing under
ground." In trying to ford this I felt thousands of particles of coarse
sand striking my legs, and the slight disturbance of our footsteps
caused deep holes to be made in the bed. The water, which is almost
always very rapid in them, dug out the s