Kauma, a fine tall man, with a bald head and pleasant manners, told us that some of his people had lately returned from the Chibisa or Babisa country, whither they had gone to buy ivory, and they would give me information about the path.  He took a fancy to one of the boys’ blankets; offering a native cloth, much larger, in exchange, and even a sheep to boot; but the owner being unwilling to part with his covering, Kauma told me that he had not sent for his Babisa travellers on account of my boy refusing to deal with him.  A little childish this, but otherwise he was very hospitable; he gave me a fine goat, which, unfortunately, my people left behind.

The chief said that no Arabs ever came his way, nor Portuguese native traders.  When advising them to avoid the first attempts to begin the slave-trade, as it would inevitably lead to war and depopulation, Kauma replied that the chiefs had resolved to unite against the Waiyau of Mponde should he come again on a foray up to the highlands; but they are like a rope of sand, there is no cohesion among them, and each village is nearly independent of every other:  they mutually distrust each other.

14th October, 1866.—­Spent Sunday here.  Kauma says that his people are partly Kanthunda and partly Chipeta.  The first are the mountaineers, the second dwellers on the plains.  The Chipeta have many lines of marking:  they are all only divisions of the great Manganja tribe, and their dialects differ very slightly from that spoken by the same people on the Shire.  The population is very great and very ceremonious.  When we meet anyone he turns aside and sits down:  we clap the hand on the chest and say, “Re peta—­re peta,” that is, “we pass,” or “let us pass:”  this is responded to at once by a clapping of the hands together.  When a person is called at a distance he gives two loud claps of assent; or if he rises from near a superior he does, the same thing, which is a sort of leave-taking.

We have to ask who are the principal chiefs in the direction which we wish to take, and decide accordingly.  Zomba was pointed out as a chief on a range of hills on our west:  beyond him lies Undi m’senga.  I had to take this route, as my people have a very vivid idea of the danger of going northwards towards the Mazitu.  We made more southing than we wished.  One day beyond Zomba and W.S.W. is the part called Chindando, where the Portuguese formerly went for gold.  They don’t seem to have felt it worth while to come here, as neither ivory nor gold could be obtained if they did.  The country is too full of people to allow any wild animals elbow-room:  even the smaller animals are hunted down by means of nets and dogs.