As we ascended, we passed a deep stream about thirty yards wide, flowing in from a body of open water several miles broad.  Numbers of men were busy at different parts of it, filling their canoes with the lotus root, called Nyika, which, when boiled or roasted, resembles our chestnuts, and is extensively used in Africa as food.  Out of this lagoon, and by this stream, the chief part of the duckweed of the Shire flows.  The lagoon itself is called Nyanja ea Motope (Lake of Mud).  It is also named Nyanja Pangono (Little Lake), while the elephant marsh goes by the name of Nyanja Mukulu (Great Lake).  It is evident from the shore line still to be observed on the adjacent hills, that in ancient times these were really lakes, and the traditional names thus preserved are only another evidence of the general desiccation which Africa has undergone.

CHAPTER III.

The Steamer in difficulties—­Elephant hunting—­Arrival at Chibisa’s—­Search for Lake Nyassa—­The Manganja country—­Weavers and smelters—­Lake Pamalombe.

Late in the afternoon of the first day’s steaming, after we left the wooding-place, we called at the village of Chikanda-Kadze, a female chief, to purchase rice for our men; but we were now in the blissful region where time is absolutely of no account, and where men may sit down and rest themselves when tired; so they requested us to wait till next day, and they would then sell us some food.  As our forty black men, however, had nothing to cook for supper, we were obliged to steam on to reach a village a few miles above.  When we meet those who care not whether we purchase or let it alone, or who think men ought only to be in a hurry when fleeing from an enemy, our ideas about time being money, and the power of the purse, receives a shock.  The state of eager competition, which in England wears out both mind and body, and makes life bitter, is here happily unknown.  The cultivated spots are mere dots compared to the broad fields of rich soil which is never either grazed or tilled.  Pity that the plenty in store for all, from our Father’s bountiful hands, is not enjoyed by more.

The wretched little steamer could not carry all the hands we needed; so, to lighten her, we put some into the boats and towed them astern.  In the dark, one of the boats was capsized; but all in it, except one poor fellow who could not swim, were picked up.  His loss threw a gloom over us all, and added to the chagrin we often felt at having been so ill-served in our sorry craft.

Next day we arrived at the village of Mboma (16 degrees 56 minutes 30 seconds S.), where the people raised large quantities of rice, and were eager traders; the rice was sold at wonderfully low rates, and we could not purchase a tithe of the food brought for sale.