The headman of the village where we spent the night of 17th is a martyr to rheumatism.  He asked for medicine, and when I gave some he asked me to give it to him out of my own hand.  He presented me with a basket of siroko and of green sorghum as a fee, of which I was very glad, for my own party were suffering, and I had to share out the little portion of flour I had reserved to myself.

19th May, 1866.—­Coming on with what carriers we could find at the crossing place, we reached the confluence without seeing it; and Matumora being about two miles up the Loendi, we sent over to him for aid.  He came over this morning early,—­a tall, well-made man, with a somewhat severe expression of countenance, from a number of wrinkles on his forehead.  He took us over the Loendi, which is decidedly the parent stream of the Rovuma, though that as it comes from the west still retains the name Loendi from the south-west here, and is from 150 to 200 yards wide, while the Rovuma above Matawatawa is from 200 to 250, full of islands, rocks, and sandbanks.  The Loendi has the same character.  We can see the confluence from where we cross about 2’ to the north.  Both rivers are rapid, shoal, and sandy; small canoes are used on them, and the people pride themselves on their skilful management:  in this the women seem in no way inferior to the men.

In looking up the Loendi we see a large granitic peak called Nkanje, some 20 miles off, and beyond it the dim outline of distant highlands, in which seams of coal are exposed.  Pieces of the mineral are found in Loendi’s sands.

Matumora has a good character in the country, and many flee to him from oppression.  He was very polite; sitting on the right bank till all the goods were carried over, then coming in the same canoe wifn me himself, he opened a fish basket in a weir and gave me the contents, and subsequently a little green sorghum.  He literally has lost all his corn, for he was obliged to flee with his people to Marumba, a rocky island in Rovuma, about six miles above Matawatawa.  He says that both Loendi and Rovuma come out of Lake Nyassa; a boat could not ascend, however, because many waterfalls are in their course:  it is strange if all this is a myth.  Matumora asked if the people through whose country I had come would preserve the peace I wished.  He says he has been assailed on all sides by slave-hunters:  he alone has never hunted for captives:  if the people in front should attack me he would come and fight them:  finally he had never seen a European before (Dr. Roscher travelled as an Arab), nor could I learn where Likumbu at Ngomano lives; it was with him that Roscher is said to have left his goods.

The Mazitu had women, children, oxen and goats with them.  The whole tribe lives on plundering the other natives by means of the terror their shields inspire; had they gone further down the Rovuma, no ox would have survived the tsetse.

20th May, 1866.—­I paid Ali to his entire satisfaction, and entrusted him with a despatch, “No. 2 Geographical,” and then sent off four men south to buy food.  Here we are among Matambwe.  Two of Matumora’s men act as guides.  We are about 2’ south and by west of the confluence Ngomano.  Lat. 11 deg. 26’ 23” S.; long. 37 deg. 40’ 52” E.