was reached on the 25th of
August.

The doctor had now to send word to the chief that his attempts to
recover his child had failed, for, though he had offered twice the value
of a slave, the little girl could not be found, the _padre_ having sold
her to a distant tribe of Bazizulu. Though this _padre_ was better than
the average, he appeared very indifferent about the matter.

On the 28th of August, an expedition consisting of four whites,
thirty-six Makololo, and two guides left the ship in the hopes of
discovering Lake Nyassa. The natives on the road were very eager to
trade. As soon as they found that the strangers would pay for their
provisions in cotton cloth, women and girls were set to grind and pound
meal, and the men and boys were seen chasing screaming fowl over the
village. A head man brought some meal and other food for sale; a fathom
of blue cloth was got out, when the Makololo head man, thinking a
portion was enough, was proceeding to tear it. On this the native
remarked that it was a pity to cut such a nice dress for his wife, and
he would rather bring more meal. "All right," said the Makololo, "but
look, the cloth is very wide, so see that the basket which carries the
meal be wide too, and add a cock to make the meal taste nicely."

The highland women of these regions all wear the _pelele_, or lip-ring,
before described. An old chief, when asked why such things were worn,
replied: "for beauty; men have beards and whiskers, women have none.
What kind of creature would a woman be without whiskers and without the
_pelele_?"

When, as they calculated, they were about a day's march from Lake
Nyassa, the chief of the village assured them positively that no lake
had ever been heard of there, and that the river Shire stretched on, as
they saw it, to a distance of two months, and then came out between two
rocks which towered to the skies. The Makololo looked blank, and
proposed returning to the ship.

"Never mind," said the doctor, "we will go on and see these wonderful
rocks."

Their head man, Massakasa declared that there must be a lake, because it
was in the white men's books, and scolded the natives for speaking a
falsehood. They then admitted that there was a lake. The chief brought
them a present in the evening. Scarcely had he gone when a fearful cry
arose from the river; a crocodile had carried off his principal wife.
The Makololo, seizing their arms, rushed to her rescue; but it was too