The Civilization of 
 South Eastern Africa, 
 
 by 
 
 Jamies Stevenson , F.R.S.Js. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/civilizationofsoOOstev_O 
 
THE CIVILIZATION 
 
 OF 
 
 SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 

Xi<hogt-Kph JWTifc AX. Jahnaton, Zdmbur^h. 
 
THE CIVILIZATION 
 
 ' \ l.lUl! MO 
 
 OF 
 
 SOUTH EASTERN AFRICA 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 REMARKS ON THE APPROACH TO NY ASS A BY 
 THE ZAMBEZI. 
 
 AND 
 
 NOTES ON THE COUNTRY BETWEEN K1LWA AND 
 
 TANG A NIK A. 
 
 WITH MAPS. 
 
 By JAMES STEVENSON. 
 
 “ Morning o’er that weird continent 
 Is dimly breaking.” 
 
 Vhivb ©bitton. 
 
 GLASGOW : 
 
 JAMES MACLEHOSE, G1 ST. VINCENT STREET, 
 |3ttbltehcv to the ©ntbersitg. 
 
 1877 . 
 
This pamphlet is republished in pursuance of a sug¬ 
 gestion by Sir Bartle Frere. When addressing the 
 Merchants of Glasgow on the exploration and civilization 
 of Africa, the abolition of the East African slave trade, 
 and its relation to commerce, he said: “ There is a good 
 deal more I might say on this subject, but I hope all of 
 you have got a copy of Mr. Stevenson’s pamphlet—the 
 paper which he read at the British Association here— 
 which gives a succinct, though clear, account of the 
 present state of things there, and which I hope he will 
 amplify and replenish with a larger map, and with some 
 further additions, which are day by day coming to hand, 
 and which will make the work more valuable.”—Speech 
 in Glasgow, 10th Nov., 1876. 
 
 In this edition the author has, with these hints in 
 view, brought his account of the recent movements 
 towards the civilization of South-Eastern Africa down to 
 the present date. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The first part of the matter included in this reprint was 
 prepared at the instance of influential members of the 
 British Association for the Advancement of Science, with 
 a view to the discussion of the subject, in September of 
 last year. It has been mostly rewritten, with information 
 to the present date, but with the omission of the discussion, 
 which turned on points now generally conceded. 
 
 A second pamphlet was prepared in fulfilment of an 
 undertaking to have Von der Decken’s journal translated, 
 with the view of making a road along his line of route, 
 which Sir Bartle Frere recommended as an important work 
 to the influential meeting which heard his interesting 
 address in the Hall of the Chamber of Commerce of 
 Glasgow in November. An attempt was made in it to set 
 before the English reader, by using cross lights from 
 German and English sources, an accurate view of what 
 such an enterprise as a road from the coast to the northern 
 end of Nyassa involves. 
 
 It is satisfactory that arrangements are being made to 
 construct this road as far as Mesule. This will be of great 
 importance in developing the new trade in Indiarubber, 
 which last year reached £100,000, and is one of the most 
 hopeful signs of the slave trade being permanently super¬ 
 seded by legitimate commerce. The next section of the 
 road, as far as to Lake Nyassa, will probably be surveyed 
 this year. A civil engineer in the Indian service is also 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 co-operating with the Livingstonia Mission and may 
 make investigations at the north end of that lake. 
 
 The construction of such a road as we indicate will 
 make it of very little moment to any but the Portuguese 
 themselves what duties they levy at Quillimane or other 
 coast stations. That which is now of the greatest impor¬ 
 tance is to maintain the freedom of the great line of water 
 communication, which the enterprise of British travellers 
 has disclosed from the mouth of the Shire to Lake 
 Victoria Nyanza. Our Government should follow out 
 what they have so well begun on the West Coast by 
 refusing to recognize, on unoccupied coasts, any right to 
 obstruct intercourse with the independent races of the 
 interior, or any claim to suzerainty over them. The 
 Portuguese have for many ages been unable to extend their 
 hold on the country beyond half a dozen stations on the 
 coast, and two or three on the Zambezi below the rapids, 
 preventing the natives from getting out except as slaves, 
 but themselves equally unable to get into the country. 
 A new line of inland water communication having been 
 discovered in the interior, with independent access from 
 Zanzibar, this absurd position must come to an end, unless 
 we allow ourselves to be cajoled into permitting this great 
 line of navigation, which we have already throughout its 
 entire length occupied, or have made arrangements to 
 occupy, in the interests of the native races, to pass under 
 the same paralyzing system. The map prefixed, which 
 has found acceptance with the geographical authorities, 
 for the first time indicates the real importance of this 
 line of navigation. 
 
 4 Woodside Crescent, 
 
 Glasgow, 24th May , 1 S 77. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 T.— Civilization by means of 
 
 Evangelistic Missions, Educational and Industrial 
 
 Training, - -- ..-..9 
 
 Commerce,.- - 16 
 
 Repression of Slave Trade and of Anarchy, - - 18 
 
 II. — Navigation of rivers Zambezi and Shire-- 
 
 Points requiring consideration of Government, - - 21 
 
 Tariffs, ..-.-----27 
 
 III. —Notes on Country from Kilwa to Tanganika 
 
 Introductory,.29 
 
 1. Translation of You der Decken’s Journal—Kilwa to 
 
 Mesule in 186.0,.31 
 
 2. Eastern Africa at the present time (Bishop Steere), 41 
 
 3. The true position of the Lakes, and aspect of country 
 
 between them,.43 
 
 4. Origin and recent history of people inhabiting the 
 
 country north of Nyassa, 48 
 
 5. General remarks on proposed roads, - - - 52 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 South-Eastern Africa,. to face page 1 
 
 Kilwa to Tanganika,. „ 52 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE CIVILIZATION OF 
 
 SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 This subject we propose to deal with under three heads 
 —Missionary, Commercial, and Governmental. 
 
 Missionary enterprise has become, after, in many cases, 
 fifty years of patient labour, a great power in Southern 
 Africa, tending to the spread of the blessings of civiliza¬ 
 tion in its highest form, and winning the good-will of 
 the natives, of whom careful inquiries prove that above 
 40,000 are members of Christian congregations, while it 
 is believed about 250,000 attend church or are under 
 regular Christian instruction, and that a million are more 
 or less under the influence of Christianity.* 
 
 In Eastern Central Africa the first steps have recently 
 been taken for the establishment of missions in the 
 interior, which I proceed very briefly to describe. In 
 order to do so intelligently, it is necessary to speak of the 
 missions in South Africa which specially serve as a model. 
 They may be said to aim at three objects—industrial, 
 educational, and religious training. 
 
 In order to show more precisely what such an institu 
 
 * Missions are conducted by the London Missionary Society 
 among the Matabele and generally in Southern Central Africa ; 
 by the Scottish Free Church among the Kaffirs and Fingos, and 
 the Zulus of Natal; by the United Presbyterians among the Kaffirs; 
 by Episcopalians (S. P. G.) ; and also by the Wesleyans, pretty 
 •widely distributed ; by German, French, and Swiss Protestants in 
 the Transvaal and in Basutoland ; and by Moravians among the 
 Hottentots : to which may be added the American missions in 
 Natal, and the Norwegian mission in Zululand. 
 
10 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 tion embraces, I give the most recent statistics of the 
 Scottisli Free Church institution for the Kaffirs of Cape 
 Colony at Loved ale, which Dr. Stewart and his colleagues 
 have for the last fourteen years been developing as a base 
 of operations. He has now gone to found a similar in¬ 
 stitution at Lake Nyassa, in Eastern Central Africa, a 
 region he visited in the year 1862, in the service of 
 the Free Church, with the view to commencing a mission, 
 which the same adverse circumstances that led to the 
 failure of the Universities’ mission at that time delayed 
 till the year before last.* 
 
 In the commencement of such missions, the industrial 
 department is necessarily the most prominent. Com¬ 
 mencing with this the lowest department, it included, in 
 Lovedale, in the year 1876, wagon-making and black¬ 
 smith work, with 18 apprentices; carpenter work, with 
 26, and cabinetmaking, with 4 apprentices; letterpress 
 printing, 5, and bookbinding, 2 apprentices. In tele¬ 
 graphy, which is managed by senior pupils, 2,974 mes¬ 
 sages were sent and received, of which 226 were native, 
 against 114 in the previous year. In farming, road 
 making, &rc., all the lads were employed for two hours 
 each day. Of the girls, 12 were taught the house work, 
 and the whole 93 learned sewing. 
 
 In the educational department there were 267 native male 
 boarders, students and pupils, receiving a good education, 
 commencing with the Kaffir languages, but rising to Eng¬ 
 lish as the classical tongue; 34 boarders, children of colonists, 
 and 39 day scholars. In all, there were 560 resident 
 pupils male and female. The number who qualified them¬ 
 selves as teachers, by passing the Government examination, 
 was last year 24, of whom three-fourths were natives. 
 
 For that which is the great aim of the institution — 
 
 * See Livingstone, Zambesi aud its Tributaries , p. 213. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 11 
 
 religious instruction, provision is made by imparting it 
 during the first half hour in all the classes. In the 
 Church there is a membership of 600, to whom 80 were 
 added during the year. Evangelistic work is carried on 
 in the heathen villages for some distance round, by the 
 students regularly visiting them in parties of six. 
 
 There is a college department, in which three years’ 
 training are given to those who desire to have a complete 
 European education. In this are also trained those who 
 wish to enter the native pastorate, for whom the provision 
 for the first time of a complete system of theological in¬ 
 struction crowns the edifice. 
 
 There are two annual terms, the first being the most 
 largely attended; but the buildings are overcrowded, and 
 large additions are in course of erection. 
 
 The annual outlay is about £8,000, but of this £2,182 
 comes in in fees from natives, and £1,296 from colonists. 
 The Government grant is a considerable help, and the 
 work done is valuable, so that on the whole the Free 
 Church is not taxed above £1,000 a year. 
 
 It may be as well to mention that the subject of in¬ 
 dustrial schools was discussed at the missionary confer¬ 
 ence at Bloemfontein in the end of October, when the 
 success of the Loved ale institution was attributed by the 
 French missionary, who introduced the subject, to the 
 personal qualities of Dr. Stewart; but the general feeling 
 was that they will generally be found to answer in course 
 of time. 
 
 The appreciation of such training—industrial, edu¬ 
 cational, and religious—by the African race is shown 
 by the remarkable fact that the chiefs and people of 
 the Fingo race of the Transkei independent district 
 raised, of their own accord, a sum of £1,500, and 
 placed it in the hands of Dr. Stewart, with the request 
 
12 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 that he would found a similar institution among them, 
 which with a large extension of Lovedale has occupied 
 his attention this year (187G). * 
 
 To many it will be felt a matter of far surpassing 
 importance that, at the same time, a deep sense of 
 religious duty pervaded the institution of Lovedale itself, 
 resulting in the profession by many of the pupils and 
 their parents of lifelong devotion to the highest type of 
 Christian life. It may be further noted that, on a call 
 being made upon them for their assistance in carrying on 
 the work of the new mission in the interior, fourteen 
 volunteered, and of these six have been selected to be 
 the native contingent at Livingstonia. 
 
 This new mission or settlement, which has a singular 
 resemblance to those which were planted on our own 
 shores by St. Columba and other missionaries from Ire¬ 
 land now twelve centuries ago, includes in its members, 
 in addition to these natives, a carpenter, two engin¬ 
 eers and blacksmiths, and an assistant, two agricultur- 
 
 * Mr. Brownlee, the able Secretary for Native Affairs of the Cape 
 Government, in the Blnebook for 1875 says —“ The great body of 
 the people in this country are at present sunk in the lowest degrada¬ 
 tion and barbarism. . . . Notwithstanding this degradation 
 
 there is a strong desire manifested for education, and this desire we 
 shall soon be able to meet by appropriating as much of the revenue 
 of this country as may be required. The Bishop of St. John’s is 
 about instituting a large educational establishment; the Wesleyans 
 are also moving in this direction ; and on Dr. Stewart’s return to 
 Africa, he will commence operations with his institution in the 
 Transkei, for which <£1,500 has already been contributed by the 
 Fingos ; and there is every reason to believe that auother appeal to 
 them would double this amount. 
 
 “ Beside these principal institutions, numerous smaller schools 
 will soon be scattered over the country. . . . Almost all of them 
 
 are conducted by native teachers ; and thus we have a powerful and 
 ever-increasing native agency, spreading abroad knowledge and 
 civilization, and forming a direct link of sympathy between ourselves 
 and their countrymen.” 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 13 
 
 ists, a weaver, and a seaman. The superintendence is 
 under Dr. Stewart, at once a clergyman and a medical 
 man, who has with him Dr. Black, who is also an ordained 
 medical man. Of these, five members of the Free 
 Church, with one member each of the Established and 
 United Presbyterian branches of our Scottish Church, 
 were, in 1875, carried to their destination at Cape 
 Maclear, at the southern end of Nyassa, by that admirable 
 pioneer missionary Mr. E. D. Young, of the Royal Navy, 
 and settled, with the full concurrence of the native chief 
 of the district, at the mouth of a fertile valley, with 
 anchorage for small vessels before an island opposite. 
 That which gives much additional importance to this first 
 settlement is the successful conveyance to and launching 
 on the lake of a steamer of about 50 feet in length, which 
 has proved capable of navigating what may be character¬ 
 ized as a stormy inland sea. This steamer, named the Ilala, 
 was built of steel plates, and fastened in such a way that 
 it could be taken down into portions, which were severally 
 not too heavy to be carried by the natives on their 
 shoulders. The success of Mr. Young, who had also been 
 with Livingstone at Lake Nyassa, in organizing a corps 
 of seven hundred natives for this purpose, and conveying 
 the vessel to its destination without the loss of any part, 
 over 70 miles of rough porterage, past the rapids of the 
 Shire, was a service, the importance of which cannot be 
 exaggerated. This successful operation gives command 
 to the mission party of the lake, which is found to 
 extend to a length of 350 miles, 100 miles longer than 
 had been supposed till the first circumnavigation dis¬ 
 closed a broad sheet of water extending to the latitude 
 of about 9 deg. south, which is nearly that of the 
 south end of Tanganika. There is thus opened to 
 missionary enterprise a coast region extending 800 
 
14 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 miles, besides 100 miles of river navigation down to 
 the rapids.* 
 
 On the east coast of Africa a base of operations has had 
 the attention of the churches for at least thirty years, and 
 the published travels of Krapf and Rebmann of the Church 
 Missionary Society, and New of the Wesleyan Mission at 
 Ribe, have testified to the ability of the men who devoted 
 themselves to missionary work in the region of Mombas 
 and Zanzibar. They were not so successful in making a 
 wide impression on the native races as the South African 
 missionaries, having the adverse influence of the slave 
 trade, and being without the moral support of British 
 rule. Latterly an important work, based upon industrial 
 training, has been done among the slaves liberated by 
 the intervention of British ships of war, and several 
 hundreds arc being prepared, in the institutions of the 
 Church and other missionary societies, to form Christian 
 colonies in the district from which they were originally 
 stolen. The Universities Mission has just planted a colony 
 of this kind at Masisi, 120 miles inland from Lindy. 
 
 * Missionary work is not carried on without large expenditure on 
 the part of those in the home country who maintain it. 
 
 The venerable Convener of the Foreign Committee of the Scottish 
 Free Church informed the writer that to the Lovedale Institution 
 they grant £1,000 a year, and that the recent extension of the build¬ 
 ings cost them .£3,000 and private subscribers as much more. -For 
 the new Fingo Institution they supply an ordained missionary and 
 teachers, besides having granted £1,500 for the buildings. For 
 Livingstonia they have had provided a fund of £13,500, and the 
 noble family of Aberdeen have placed two-thirds as much at their dis¬ 
 posal for the Gordon Memorial Mission to the Zulus of Natal. 
 
 The Church Missionary Society recently announced their having- 
 received donations amounting to £12,000 for their new mission at 
 Lake Victoria-Nyanza ; and the London Missionary Society a fund 
 of £12,000 on their undertaking the Lake Tanganika Mission. The 
 Scottish Established Church also announce having raised £4,800 for 
 their Nyassa Mission. See Reports published during 1876. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 15 
 
 I elose this notice of what is already known to have 
 been accomplished, by some remarks as to what is in 
 progress. The party of the Scottish Established Church, 
 with the second party of the Free Church, have now, 
 February, 1877, settled, the first near Magomero, at a 
 place to be named Blantyre, the other at Livingstonia, 
 with the view of extending northward along the lake 
 from that point. The London Missionary Society, re¬ 
 presenting chiefly the Congregational churches of England 
 and Scotland, has in progress the arrangements for a mis¬ 
 sion at TJjiji on Lake Tanganika, In connection with 
 this an attempt, so far successful, is being made to substi¬ 
 tute bullock wagons for the usual system of porterage, 
 diminishing the cost of transit by one-half. They send 
 also a steamer in sections, to be launched on the lake in 
 the course of this year. Funds have also been obtained, and 
 two parties have been sent to plant missions of similar 
 character in Uganda, north of Lake Victoria-Nyanza, and 
 at Rumanika’s town by the Church Missionary Society, 
 which has been occupying the coast at Mombas. * The 
 region of the lakes has thus been, or is likely soon to be, 
 occupied in an effective manner by agencies, from which 
 good results may be looked for in respect of industrial, 
 educational, and religious training, f 
 * Our government lias recently made enquiries of the Khedive, as 
 to whether he intends to annex the independent states to which 
 these church missions have been sent. As the countries round Lake 
 Victoria-Nyanza were discovered by Speke and Grant, proceeding 
 from the east-coast; as the occupation of that large lake by the 
 Egyptians, would mean the drawing of the slave trade, which we ai’e 
 shutting out from the east-coast, down to the Nile; and as Abyssinia, 
 which learned to respect both our strength and our forbearance in 
 the Abyssinian war, lies close to the line of Egyptian communica¬ 
 tions, and could powerfully second our anti-slavery policy ; we may 
 very well require that the answer be in the negative. 
 
 t “ Our mission is to elevate and enlighten them (the nati ves of 
 South Africa), and to raise them in the scale of civilization. . , 
 
1() NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 The missions do not engage in commerce, but are looking 
 anxiously for some development in that direction, which 
 brings me to the second part of this paper. A consider¬ 
 able difficulty presents itself in respect of the transit 
 duties, which the Portuguese levy on imports by the Zam¬ 
 bezi, so as to be prohibitive of traffic. How far they are 
 entitled to do this may well be disputed, because the 
 southern bank of the Zambezi up to the point where 
 the Shire joins it on the north, and farther, is oc¬ 
 cupied by a perfectly independent tribe of Zulus, who have 
 even been accustomed to receive tribute from the Portu¬ 
 guese at Senna. Our government have taken a decided 
 position in not acknowledging the jurisdiction of the 
 Portuguese over the north bank of the Congo, and it is 
 hoped they may be equally decided here. Pending the 
 settlement of this matter, a porterage route to the nearest 
 point on the coast within Zanzibar territory would be of 
 great importance. The distance would be, at least, 
 350 miles; but judging from the fact of the services 
 of the 700 natives who carried the steamer having been 
 secured at the rate of six yards of calico each, it 
 would seem to be possible to effect this transport at a 
 cost that would not be prohibitive. As the country is 
 almost wholly depopulated by -the slave trade, and the 
 disorganization that has ensued, there would require to be 
 established stations which would form new centres of 
 
 This great work is being accomplished by the missionaries, a class of 
 men whose labours, disinterested and self-denying, are even now not 
 fully understood or appreciated. Through our magistrates and 
 agents among the natives, we endeavour to attach them to us by a 
 just and righteous administration: we contribute largely to the ad¬ 
 vancement of education ; but the missionaries are the agency by 
 which the people are enlightened and educated.”—Mr. Brownlee, 
 Secretary for Native Affairs of the Cape Government, in Bluebook 
 for 1875. 
 
W. & A.K. Joinston. Edinburgh. 
 

 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 17 
 
 population. If these were arranged at the distances of 70 
 or 80 miles from each other, it would save the carriage of 
 more than eight or ten days’ provisions at a time. 
 With regard to the productions of the Nyassa region, 
 ivory, india-rubber, and gum copal, cotton and sugar, coffee 
 and tobacco have been mentioned; but a full statement 
 with respect to this cannot be made till further reports are 
 received from the Mission party. There seems no doubt 
 that reasonable facilities for trade, added to other civiliz¬ 
 ing agencies, would produce satisfactory results. Around 
 the Cape Colony the natives, mostly cognate to the 
 Eastern Central Africans, purchase commercial articles 
 to the amount of £400,000, and produce them to the 
 value of £750,000 a year;* those about Natal about 
 one-fourtli as much. 
 
 The trade of the east coast is also considerable. During 
 1875, the steam companies alone had on freight as 
 exports from the Zanzibar ports, of cloves, pepper, copal, 
 &c., 2,143 tons, valued at £75,276, also 213 tons ivory, 
 valued at £264,527, and £4,841 in specie—and as imports 
 3,321 tons weight, of which a considerable proportion was 
 cotton goods, and £89,062 in specie. 
 
 There is one question deserving consideration—whether, 
 in the event of the slave trade being stopped, the Arab and 
 other merchants might be expected to carry on trade under 
 improved conditions ? This question seems to be answered 
 in the affirmative by those most competent to judge. It 
 we open up easy modes of transit, and remove harassing 
 restrictions, we may expect that self-interest will prompt 
 them to make use of them. We shall also thus avoid 
 trade jealousies, while by proper arrangements on the 
 coast, we may secure wholesale markets. 
 
 The third point to be treated deals especially with the 
 
 * Handbook, 1875, by J. Noble, late Clerk to Cape Legislature, p. 231. 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 question of the abolition of the slave trade. Recently 
 large caravans of slaves passed across the ferries, or to the 
 south of the Lake Nyassa, to the number, it is estimated, 
 of 20,000 slaves per annum—representing a loss of popu¬ 
 lation to Interior Africa of probably not less than 100,000. 
 That these should pass the British flag flying from the 
 mission steamer, or within a few miles of the settlement, 
 is painful. His own people are no longer openly sold by 
 the neighbouring chief, and there has been an instance of 
 a slave unable to keep up with the rest of the slave-gang 
 being directed to the mission instead of being killed. It 
 is probable that, by the prevalence of ameliorating influ¬ 
 ences on the population generally, some improvement in 
 respect of slavery might be gradually effected. There 
 seems no reason however why our Government, which uses 
 strong measures on the ocean, should stop short at the 
 inland waters. 
 
 Since the first edition of this pamphlet was prepared, 
 the slave trade in Zanzibar territory has received a serious 
 check by its having been rendered illegal by the pro¬ 
 clamation of his Highness the Seyyed. This, with the 
 influence of the Europeans at Livingstonia, has done much 
 to abolish the traffic at the ferries of Nyassa. 
 
 We have' also treaties with Portugal for the suppres¬ 
 sion of the slave trade, and for the cessation of slave¬ 
 holding in her dominions; and it is matter of great satis¬ 
 faction that she has anticipated all action of this kind by 
 declaring that she now permits no one to hold a slave in 
 her possessions wheresoever situated, which, we believe, 
 the authorities at Lisbon will carry out to the extent of 
 their power, unfortunately rather limited. 
 
 Irrespective of the slave trade, this region has been 
 for forty years past very much under the law of the sur¬ 
 vival of the idlest and most unruly, certainly not of 
 the most useful inhabitants. The aboriginal races of 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 19 
 
 negroes, whom Livingstone found on his first journeys 
 smelting iron to make hoes, growing and weaving cotton, 
 tilling the ground, and fishing in the lake, have in great 
 measure given place to the Mazitu, north and west of 
 the lake, whose chief occupation seems to be preying 
 on their industrious neighbours. The Manganja, among 
 whom the Universities Mission made their unfortunate 
 attempt at a settlement, are now reduced to a small 
 remnant; and the skeletons of great numbers are seen 
 lying beside ruined villages on the banks of the lake. On 
 the bank of the lower Shire the remnant of another race 
 have come among them—the Makololo, whom Livingstone 
 found on the Upper Zambezi. This tribe, from among 
 whom he obtained his faithful allies and indefatigable 
 assistants, was recently almost exterminated in the savage 
 wars of the interior. 
 
 In other parts of the country the unfair advantage 
 afforded by the possession of guns by one side only, has 
 given a fearful impetus to the desolation of the newly- 
 discovered regions by quelling the independence of the 
 natives. The destruction of the industrious race is going 
 on to such an extent that unless there be some effective 
 intervention soon, this continent may degenerate to the 
 condition of aboriginal Australia, and there may be no one 
 producing anything with which to trade. 
 
 The rabble of Arabs, half castes, and slaves, who with 
 2,000 guns are massacring the people of Manyuema and 
 the other Ethiopian races, could not, man for man, cope 
 with the races they are destroying. If an expedition to 
 disarm them could be sent up, the whole condition of 
 things would be reversed. Even if 1,000 rifles were put 
 into the hands of the natives, they would right themselves. 
 Whether, if the country east of the great lakes were 
 properly settled, some expedition might not be organized 
 
20 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 from the advanced basis this would afford, which would 
 control the country westward, is an important question, 
 well-fitted to stimulate to energetic prosecution of our 
 advance from the coast. 
 
 But it is difficult to make much real progress in 
 abolishing the slave trade, or in repressing the pre¬ 
 vailing anarchy, without comprehensive arrangements. 
 When we shut up the Zanzibar coast, so that there 
 is no inducement to take slaves thither, there is the 
 probability that the slave wars will go on as before, but 
 that the slaves will be marched in another direction. 
 
 Already a new slave trade seems to be getting established 
 west of Lake Nyassa, where the Mazitu, who were not ac¬ 
 customed to sell slaves, have begun to supply the half- 
 caste traders with victims for the Kaffir races south of 
 the Zambezi to the westward. 
 
 We believe one good remedy would be to place steamers 
 like the Ilala upon the lakes and upon the Zambezi and 
 Congo systems of river navigation. They might in many 
 cases be of larger size, and a few trained men on board of 
 them might act as a police upon occasion, while they 
 would be ordinarily occupied in trade. To effect this a 
 large company with considerable powers might be desir¬ 
 able. But we are not without hope that, even without 
 this, by occupying one section of the country after another 
 with colonies of Christian natives superintended by Euro¬ 
 peans, with such means of rapid communication as we 
 have indicated, communities might be formed capable of 
 defending themselves, and of checking disorders over 
 considerable tracts of country. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 21 
 
 REMARKS ON MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE APPROACH 
 BY THE ZAMBEZI TO NYASSA, REQUIRING THE ATTEN¬ 
 TION OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 When the Scottish missions proceeded to occupy the 
 Shire Valley and Lake Nyassa, arrangements were pro¬ 
 posed that their communications should be kept up by 
 their employing vessels to enter the Kongone or Luabo 
 mouths of the Zambezi from the ocean, and by smaller 
 vessels on the rivers to connect that navigation with that 
 of the steamer placed on Lake Nyassa. The original 
 discovery and navigation of these river communications 
 by agents of the British Government seems clearly made 
 out in Livingstone’s Missionary Travels, pp. 640 and 665, 
 Zambezi, pp. 16, 91. The only exception is about 30 
 miles of the Zambezi navigation from Mazaro to the 
 entrance of the Shire, which is also part of the line of 
 water communication between the Portuguese settlements 
 of Quillimane, Mazaro, Senna, and Tette. 
 
 The carrying out of this intention was deferred in 
 consequence of the receipt of a letter from Senhor 
 Zagury, intimating that he had had conceded to him 
 by the Portuguese Government the exclusive right of 
 steam navigation between Quillimane, the Luabo mouth of 
 the Zambezi, and Tette. The missions have since used the 
 Portuguese approach by the Quillimane river, which con¬ 
 nects itself by a porterage of six miles with the Zambezi 
 at Mazaro. That this concession of the Portuguese 
 Government would have been, if carried out, an invasion 
 of British rights hardly admits of doubt, although it was 
 not the part of the Mission to contest the matter. But the 
 concession was probably hastily granted, when the passage 
 of the British steamer Ilala attracted attention, with the 
 view of keeping the question open, and it is understood 
 
22 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 to be now withdrawn. The Portuguese settlements nearest 
 to these mouths of the Zambezi are Quillimane, 80 miles 
 north, and Mazaro, 70 miles inland. To connect these by 
 the Zambezi doubles the distance between them, and 
 the proposal could only have had the object we have 
 indicated. 
 
 The next question that presented itself regarded transit 
 duties, which did not arise in connection with what we 
 may call the British line of communication, but in con¬ 
 sequence of the second party having gone round by and 
 stopped at the Portuguese settlement of Quillimane. The 
 duty of 26 per cent, which was charged by the local 
 officers on both mission and trade goods, has been returned, 
 and the question is understood to be limited to a proposi¬ 
 tion to charge in future a transit duty of moderate amount. 
 
 The Portuguese route from Quillimane to Tette above 
 mentioned, as we have said, coincides for 30 miles with 
 the new route from the mouth of the Zambezi to Nyassa, 
 but the Portuguese are very much in the position of a 
 power that has been withdrawing from it, which came 
 about in this way. 
 
 The high price of slaves in Brazil, 40 years ago, induced 
 a prptty general sale of the agricultural population con¬ 
 nected with their settlements, destroying both their 
 defensive power and their revenues. The Landeens, part 
 of the great Abantu or Zulu Kaffir race, which now occupies 
 most of Eastern Africa from the Cape to within five 
 degrees of the equator, have gradually, in the last 30 
 years, driven them from the south bank of the river. 
 The town of Senna is secured by the payment to the 
 Landeens of an annual tribute or land-tax, enforced in 
 case of refusal by occupation and slaughter of the inhabi¬ 
 tants. Livingstone’s Missionary Travels, p. 658; Zam¬ 
 bezi, p. 152; Fritsch, Eing. Sad. Africas, p. 494. The 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 23 
 
 Livingstone Search Expedition found the inhabitants, in 
 1867, living on the islands of the Zambezi, in consequence 
 of 600 persons having been killed the previous year on 
 account of this and other provocations. The party in the 
 Ilala also found that, in November, 1874, the Landeens had 
 occupied Mazaro, on the north bank, with a slaughter of 
 200 people, when enforcing the payment of their land-tax 
 there. As they also levy dues on the river, and the 
 Portuguese Government has not seen its way during 
 thirty years to prevent their thus treating the whites as a 
 conquered tribe, it would appear to be necessary to con¬ 
 sider the position of this race as well as that of the 
 Portuguese in any settlement. The concession of transit 
 duties might be made to the Portuguese on condition of 
 the river from Mazaro to the Shire being kept open, a task 
 which, judging from British experience of the Kaffirs in 
 South Africa, may involve difficulty and expense. With 
 the Landeens between the mouth of the Zambezi and 
 Mazaro we presume we must deal ourselves. 
 
 Another question of importance has just been brought 
 up by a message sent by a Portuguese named Ferrao to 
 the Makololo chief who occupies the country towards the 
 cataracts of the Shire. The message was sent bv means of 
 Dr. Lawes of the Livingstonia Mission, and was to the 
 effect of stating that the chief was located upon Ferrao’s 
 land, and must clear out, which brings up the question, 
 what right Ferrao has to land on the Shire at all, even 
 to that which he now occupies at the mouth of the river. 
 
 After Livingstone had for the first time navigated the 
 Shire and Nyassa, he proceeded for two years up the 
 Zambezi. On his return he found that a half-caste 
 named Mariano who had been liberated from prison at 
 Mozambique, had built a stockade at the mouth of the 
 Shire, entered the newly discovered region with guns, 
 
24 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 and sent many of the inhabitants in chains to Quillimane 
 to supply labour to Reunion, so that with slave-raids, war, 
 and consequent famine, a most populous region had been 
 turned into a desert. Livingstone, Zambezi, pp. 450, 473. 
 
 After our Government withdrew this expedition, the 
 remnant of the inhabitants gathered under the chieftain¬ 
 ship of the Makololo, who had formed part of the expedition, 
 but whom Livingstone left behind. Having been Living¬ 
 stone’s men, they are practically our own people, send 
 their sons to the Livingstonia Institution, and accept our 
 civilization, both they and their subjects having heartily 
 welcomed our return in 1875. Being of Kaffir race, and 
 living in stockaded villages, they are effective governors, 
 and have so far saved the valley from being swept a 
 second time by the Mazitu, Mr. E. D. Young having been 
 able to bring these dreaded warriors to terms with them. 
 
 In these circumstances it is somewhat strange to 
 hear of a summons of the kind described coniiner 
 
 o 
 
 from what we believe to be the ci-devant Mariano’s 
 stockade. Mariano, although there seems too much 
 reason to think that he and his coadjutors were 
 secretly countenanced by some of the officials, was in the 
 eyes of the Portuguese law a rebel engaged in enter¬ 
 prises inconsistent with treaties between Portugal and 
 this country. 
 
 Any claim by Ferrao is foreclosed by our exploration 
 of the country, and the settlement of its ancient inhabi¬ 
 tants under the Makololo; for it will hardly be pretended 
 that Mariano’s slave raids in the country during our 
 temporary absence effected a transfer of it. The object of 
 Senhor Ferrao may possibly be to escape the exactions of 
 the Landeens, to which he is exposed on his present loca¬ 
 tion, but it is not at all improbable that there is an attempt 
 at embarrassment contrived by some of the officials, 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 25 
 
 which would not be countenanced by the home Govern¬ 
 ment of Portugal. In any case it shows the importance 
 of a distinct declaration on these subjects on the part of 
 the two Governments so that complications may be 
 avoided. This is all the more necessary, because the 
 Portuguese settlements are convict settlements not very 
 strictly controlled. 
 
 The actual position is that Senhor Ferrao has a stock¬ 
 ade three miles up the Shire on the left bank, and has 
 been hitherto understood to claim the land on that side 
 for a distance of 30 miles; the boundary being a marsh 
 called Nyanga Pangono, which becomes an extensive 
 sheet of water in time of flood, and might be reckoned 
 the limit of Portuguese jurisdiction. 
 
 Another point deserving consideration is the possibility 
 of some check being put upon the introduction of ardent 
 spirits. The tariff for the province of Mozambique and 
 the concession to Zagury, both of which followed im¬ 
 mediately on the establishment of the mission, are fitted 
 to give countenance to the idea that the Portuguese 
 Government are disposed to give special encouragement 
 to this traffic; and as the Landeens show indisposition to 
 accept such wares from the Portuguese, an outlet among 
 the races to whom our missions are sent would be con¬ 
 venient for them, and there has been a rumour of this 
 being carried out by concessions of exclusive naviga¬ 
 tion of the Shire by steamers, that French houses may 
 take up the trade of Lake Nyassa. (See Appendix.) 
 
 For this reason, and also because the laws of Portugal, 
 while tolerant of the religious services of foreigners, do 
 not permit any Portuguese subject to hold church services 
 other than those of the Church of Rome, it is expedient 
 that the missions should know who are and who are not 
 to be reckoned Portuguese subjects; and it is desirable 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 that this should be made clear before expenses are in¬ 
 curred for permanent buildings in the country between 
 the mouth of the Shird and the cataracts, or in the 
 education of native preachers. 
 
 There is no question that the high tariffs and the 
 uncertainties regarding rights of navigation during the 
 last two years have been peculiarly unfortunate in the 
 state of the country. The establishment of the missions, 
 the repression of the slave trade by Zanzibar, and the 
 incipient relations with the Mazitu, should all have been 
 supported by a free introduction of legitimate trade. The 
 slave trade, which was actually all but stopped for a 
 twelvemonth, has been regaining vigour; and it is now 
 quite essential that the British Government should repress 
 it on the inland waters of Nyassa, to prevent our whole 
 policy in this direction from being stultified. 
 
 The settlement of the questions we have indicated 
 would probably be followed by action on the part of the 
 mercantile community either by way of the Zambezi or 
 through Zanzibar territory, as the decisions arrived at 
 might render most expedient, which would naturally 
 supersede the irregular action of the slave trade in 
 supplying the wants of the natives of Nyassa, a result not 
 likely to be obtained under the state of uncertainty at 
 present existing as to what can and what cannot be safely 
 undertaken.* 
 
 * At the instance of the Livingstonia Mission, several gentlemen 
 sent some goods with Mr. Cotterill last year, to enable him to make 
 a pioneering expedition ; but in the text we refer to the opening up 
 of communications by merchants experienced in African trade. 
 
27 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Duties and Dues chargeable on Merchandise in the province 
 of Mozambique, and approximate Rates of Freight to 
 Tete by proposed Portuguese Steamship Company. 
 
 I.—IMPORTS. 
 
 
 P 
 
 Duties. 
 
 Dues. 
 
 Freight 
 to Tete. 
 
 
 
 £ s d 
 
 
 £ S D 
 
 Cotton, unbleached, ... 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 1 9 5 
 
 
 0 17 0 
 
 Do., prints, ordinary, 
 
 99 
 
 2 9 10 
 
 r d 
 
 CD 
 
 do. 
 
 Do., do., fine, 
 
 9 9 
 
 3 12 5 
 
 
 do. 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 Do., dyed in twist, or., 
 
 9 9 
 
 2 0 9 
 
 •73 
 
 do. 
 
 Do., do., fine, 
 
 9 3 
 
 2 14 4 
 
 c3 
 
 +3 
 
 03 
 
 do. 
 
 Do., do., twilled, 
 
 99 
 
 2 18 10 
 
 O 
 
 CD 
 
 do. 
 
 Iron bars, plates, sheets, 
 
 99 
 
 0 2 3 
 
 • i—i 
 
 O 
 
 > 
 
 do. 
 
 
 
 
 hH 
 
 
 Do. nails, . 
 
 9 9 
 
 0 4 6 
 
 rt 
 
 o 
 
 do. 
 
 06 ... ... ... 
 
 9 9 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 r c3 
 
 > 
 
 do. 
 
 Gunpowder, . 
 
 9 9 
 
 0 113 
 
 1 o 
 c3 
 
 17 2 
 
 
 
 
 o-S 
 
 
 Muskets, . 
 
 Each 
 
 0 2 If 
 
 CO 
 
 
 Ale, cider, . 
 
 Gal. 
 
 0 0 4 7 s 
 
 ■N 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 36s. per 
 
 Dist.liquors (except Rum), 
 
 9 9 
 
 0 1 2* 
 
 
 • j 
 
 * 
 
 Puncheon, 
 equal to 4s. 
 
 Rum, . 
 
 99 
 
 0 0 10ft 
 
 
 
 per cwt. 
 
 Cotton, unbleached, 
 
 
 
 
 
 Indian, . 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 1 0 3 
 
 
 0 17 0 
 
 Do. do. of 1 ‘ Carvi & Cadi, ” 
 
 9 9 
 
 0 13 7 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. dyed in piece, ordi- 
 
 
 
 I—H 
 
 0 
 
 
 nary blue European, 
 
 99 
 
 2 12 1 
 
 Q* 
 
 m 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. do. Indian, ... 
 
 99 
 
 1 9 5 
 
 c3 
 
 o 
 
 do. 
 
 Do. do. of “Cadi,” 
 
 9 9 
 
 0 18 1 
 
 
 do. 
 
28 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 II.—EXPORTS. 
 
 Coffee,. 
 
 Hides,. 
 
 Ivory, large, . 
 
 Do., middling, 
 
 Do., small, . 
 
 Oil, . 
 
 Wax, . 
 
 Hippopotamus— 
 
 Teeth (of two Kilos or 
 more), . 
 
 Do., ordinary, . 
 
 
 Duties. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 3% ad val. 
 (InvcelO%) 
 
 
 3% ad val. 
 
 >> 
 
 £1 16 3 
 
 
 1 4 11 
 
 >> 
 
 1 2 8 
 
 Pipe 
 
 3% ad val. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 0 4 6 
 
 > > 
 
 1 4 11 
 
 J 5 
 
 0 3 5 
 
 Dues. 
 
 Freight 
 from Tete to 
 Quillimane. 
 
 
 £0 10 7 
 
 "S 
 
 
 r d 
 
 0 13 7 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 1 7 2 
 
 
 
 + 
 
 do. 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 do. 
 
 <D 
 
 
 *3 
 
 1 15 6 
 
 
 
 hH 
 
 0 13 7 
 
 « 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 1 7 2 
 
 c3 
 
 
 
 
 r—1 
 
 do. 
 
 On miscellaneous articles the import duty is 6 per cent, and 
 the export duty 3 per cent ad valorem. Thirty per cent of the 
 above duties on imports are remitted when the goods are im¬ 
 ported in Portuguese vessels. 
 
 These abstracts were furnished by J. W. Moir, Esq., 
 Edinburgh, now engaged in the opening up of a trade 
 route to Nyassa from the Zanzibar coast. 
 
29 
 
 NOTES 
 
 ON 
 
 THE COUNTRY BETWEEN KILWA AND THE 
 SOUTHERN END OF LAKE TANGA NIKA. 
 
 In the spring of 1874, the question of a route from Lake 
 Nyassa to the coast north of Cape Delgado was carefully 
 considered, before the subject of a mission to that lake 
 was seriously entertained. The possibility of an alternate 
 route to the Zanzibar coast was felt to be an important 
 element in the decision to undertake a settlement ap¬ 
 proached through Portuguese territory. 
 
 The general idea of the system, on which a route into 
 Zanzibar territory, and the opening up of mercantile 
 routes generally, might be carried out, was also the 
 subject of consideration. The general conclusion was 
 that, while the Missions were working separately under 
 their respective mission boards, the laymen of the various 
 churches might conveniently form one organization for 
 such secular work. 
 
 Subsequently, when the circumnavigation of Lake 
 Nyassa in the Livingstonia Mission Steamer showed that 
 one route would probably take up the traffic of both lakes, 
 it occurred to the writer, in preparing the map for the 
 illustration of the subject of the civilization of South- 
 
so 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 Eastern Africa, at the meeting of the British Association, 
 that this was probably the best route to Central Africa 
 —an opinion confirmed after perusal of the description 
 of the part of the route next the sea-coast explored by 
 the German traveller Yon der Decken. 
 
 A glance at the map of Africa is sufficient to show 
 the important position of the route of which we pro¬ 
 pose to speak. It is the shortest land-route to the 
 lake district, about 370 miles in direct length, and 
 commanding on the two Lakes Nyassa and Tanganika 
 alone coast-lines of nearly 2,000 miles in extent, when 
 the proposed road, 120 miles long, is made to connect 
 them. On the sea-coast it communicates with excellent 
 ports, the want of which is the great defect of the route 
 from Zanzibar to Ujiji, and it is, as will be seen, by far 
 the most important line to secure as a cordon to settle 
 the country. There seems also no established practice of 
 exacting hongo, or black mail, which every petty chief 
 seems to practice on the northern route. 
 
 As the time of year when explorations can be made to 
 advantage in this part of Africa commences in May, the 
 writer has felt that no time should be lost in placing such 
 information as he has been able to collect, with the views 
 above described, before those who are interested in the 
 subject. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 31 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EASTERN AFRICA 9° SOUTH IN 1860. 
 
 Commencing from the east coast, there is a very full 
 description of the route for the first 150 miles published 
 in German, of which we have thought it worth while to 
 present a full summary. 
 
 Journey of the Traveller Baron Carl Claus von der 
 Decken from Kilwa Kissewani to Mesule—the expedi¬ 
 tion having extended over about 40 days—starting on 
 the 23rd November, 1860, and arriving at Kilwa, on 
 their return, on the 1st January, 1861. (See large 
 Map.) 
 
 The journey of Yon der Decken from Kilwa to Mesule is 
 the only source from which we possess authentic information 
 of the region traversed by him. Mesule being on the route to 
 the Lake Nyassa, we are aided by this journey in forming some 
 idea of the practicability of establishing a line of communica¬ 
 tion betwixt Kilwa and that great inland sea. 
 
 Among the numerous ports on this seaboard, there are two 
 Kilwas—Kilwa Kissewani, and Kilwa Kibendsche—the former 
 situated on an island close to the coast, the other, in a small 
 bay on the mainland, some 14 miles farther north. Kilwa 
 Kibendsche is at present by far the larger place, having some 
 15,000 inhabitants. Kilwa Kissewani, on the other hand, 
 although the older city, and in its early flourishing days 
 numbering, it is said, some 300 mosques, now consists, the 
 editor of Yon der Decken’s travels informs us, “of a number 
 of huts, dominated by at most ten stone-built inhabited 
 houses.” 
 
32 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 Our traveller’s point of departure was Kilwa Kissewani, 
 where he arrived on the 7th October, 1860, but in consequence 
 of vexatious delays, incidental to African travel, he did not 
 actually leave for the interior till the 23rd November 
 following. 
 
 The caravan of Von cler Decken “consisted, besides the 
 Baron, his European servant Koralli, and several coloured 
 servants, of nineteen soldiers, and some forty bearers, who 
 were to transport some 3,000 yards cotton cloth, a quantity of 
 cotton handkerchiefs, a hundredweight and a half of glass 
 pearls, a hundredweight brass wire, mirrors, knives, flints, 
 tobacco, powder, etc.” Von der Decken had also some 
 donkeys with him, which were of great service, “ Almost 
 more,” we are told, “ than we Europeans, these were every¬ 
 where an object of wonder. The possibility of the advance 
 of such animals appeared to the natives something quite 
 unheard of.” There is no mention made of the tsetse fly which 
 Livingstone found attacking the donkeys he had with him at 
 Lake Tanganika. It is quite probable thus that oxen may be 
 safely employed on this route, as on that to the north explored 
 by the Rev. Roger Price. Indeed, if, as is supposed, the 
 tsetse fly disappears with the buffalo, this is a matter of 
 certainty. 
 
 One disadvantage, we may notice, from which our 
 traveller suffered, might have been avoided. Without 
 having experienced it, one can scarcely realize how much, 
 in tropical countries, the comfort of the traveller depends on 
 the season selected. Von der Decken was travelling in the 
 rainy month of December. On the east coast of Africa, 
 south of the Line, the pleasant months to travel in are from 
 July to November. 
 
 “ Rather remarkably,” it is observed, “ few wild animals 
 were seen; perhaps because the lively caravan route is 
 avoided by these animals, or that the vigorous cultivation of 
 the land drives' them to remoter regions.” Only on rare 
 occasions were large antelopes seen. Of smaller mammalia 
 there was an animal like the squirrel, and another species 
 having affinity to it, and the rat. Among birds the multitude 
 of doves is especially remarkable; besides these the traveller 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 33 
 
 speaks of parrots and night-swallows. As domestic 
 animals the natives possess fowls, goats, sheep, and cows.” 
 An incidental and interesting proof of the prosperity of 
 the inhabitants is that “ they sell no slaves, not even at the 
 highest prices.” “ The slave trade is not in circumstances to 
 offer a price equivalent to the value of their labour.” The 
 greatest number of the slaves who reach Kilwa come from 
 regions further inland, and south. “ As may be readily sup¬ 
 posed, the culture of the soil is there very incomplete.” “One 
 may see from this, that the best means to root out the slave 
 trade is to improve agriculture.” 
 
 In reference to what Von der Decken says of plentifulness of 
 provisions, this does not by any means imply that he could 
 readily obtain them. On the contrary, from the niggardliness 
 of some, the fears of others, and the hostility of not a few, they 
 were often hard to get. “ On the whole, however, Decken had 
 less to complain of the inhospitality of the inhabitants than of 
 the hard-heartedness of the depraved Arabs on the coast, which 
 exceeded all description.” There were other disagreeable 
 circumstances usually incidental to African travellers—such as 
 the irritating delays, the worry occasioned by the grumbling 
 of the soldiers and porters, the ultimate refusal of the Kilan- 
 gozi, or official guide, to go forward. The unfortunate issue 
 of the last circumstance was, that Yon der Decken was obliged, 
 greatly against his will, to stop short at Mesule. “ Another 
 decision was impossible,” he says; “ I would not, with the 
 unreliableness of my twenty soldiers, place myself in the 
 power of the caravan approaching, consisting of more than 
 1,500 men, and expose myself thus to the fate of Koscher.” 
 All these unpleasant features of the journey, as well as its 
 fatigues and exposures, seem to have depressed our traveller ; 
 and on his return to Kilwa induced a fever, from which he 
 only slowly recovered. 
 
 But, contenting ourselves with these general observations on 
 the journey, we shall best bring before those interested in the 
 subject the details of the route followed by marking the 
 itinerary of the traveller, the individual stations he visits, and 
 the local remarks he offers. An observation of these may 
 indicate to us where stations may be chosen on this route to 
 
 C 
 
34 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 facilitate the journey of the traveller to Lake Nyassa. Decken’s 
 observations, the editor of his travels tells us, were careful. 
 ‘ ‘ He fixed his route by observations of the longitude and 
 latitude, and betwixt the principal points, by indicating the 
 direction of the way, and by measurements of the pedometer. 
 He marked also carefully the rise of the land.” We have thus, 
 as far as Mesule, reliable evidence on which to rest our 
 conclusions. 
 
 On the morning of the 23rd November, 1860, the journey 
 from Kilwa began. “ The first day’s march was twelve sea 
 miles in a straight direction. The way led first through a 
 marshy, later through a hilly district, without shade.” Half 
 way the caravan had to rest some time on account of‘the 
 number fatigued, only at nightfall the stronger reached Muka- 
 punda, while the half of the bearers arrived late at night. 
 “ The Shamba of Abdallah here is well built, and of consider¬ 
 able size, but suffers from one evil—it wants water, at least 
 for so great a number as Decken had with him. One must 
 fetch what is needed from some two and a half miles distance 
 in tubs.” 
 
 Mnasi, the next station—translated into English, the Cocoa 
 Palm—is a poor resting-place. Its name it derives from three 
 palm trees, which, to a certain extent, are the marked feature 
 of the Shamba. Here also there is a want of water. There 
 are several springs, but together they yield daily only a few 
 buclcets-full. 
 
 “ On the 29th November we reached Mpuema after a fifteen 
 hours’ march. The way led through a thickly-wooded plateau, 
 whose firm red soil showed numerous tracks, especially of 
 zebras and cloven-footed animals. An indescribable weari¬ 
 ness and exhaustion which came upon me on the way caused 
 me to fear that an illness was coming to an outbreak with me. 
 On the following day I felt a little better, but dare not in the 
 heat of the day continue the march, waiting rather till the 
 evening.” 
 
 “ At midnight we started, and wandered through a wood 
 which seemed as if.it would never'end, until at 8 A.M. we 
 reached Namisu.” 
 
 “ The next march on 2nd December was in part accom- 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 35 
 
 plished during the night. Our way led us through a gently 
 ascending plain betwixt isolated hills, which struck me by 
 their bold forms. I climbed one of them, Kilole, lying close 
 to the way. It consists of mighty masses of basalt heaped up. 
 Amongst a heap I marked here and there pieces of quartz, and 
 of heavy grey iron-stone. A wide view, full of diversity, 
 especially toward the west, toward the Nandanga Mountains, 
 which are of a similar structure, repaid me richly the trouble 
 of the ascent. In the course of the day we passed several hills 
 of similar structure, formed of blocks of rock and some veins 
 of basalt ( Basaltstreifen) stretching from north to south. 
 Numerous clefts in the earth ( Erdrissen) made the last part of 
 our way uncommonly difficult, and compelled us to make 
 many detours. The land was excellently cultivated, and thickly 
 peopled. Wherever we came we excited the greatest surprise, 
 for the people had never seen a Msungu (European gentleman). 
 Our asses more than ourselves were an object of surprise.” 
 
 “Nahigongo, our resting-place to-day, cannot well be indicated 
 by the name of village or town. It is rather, like most 
 African places, only the nucleus of a population, consisting of 
 innumerable huts, in the midst of plantations of Mtama or 
 Kaffir corn, stretching about a mile in length [probably the 
 German mile is meant, which is four of our English], During 
 the two days of our stay at Nahigongo, I made some excursions 
 in the mountains lying to the south. All showed the same 
 formation as that of Kilole ; and as I surveyed with a telescope 
 the wide plateau from one of them, I observed other similar 
 basalt masses of wonderfully indented form, which also rose 
 ruggedly and steeply from the level. 
 
 “ The obtaining of provisions here occasioned tedious diffi¬ 
 culties—the inhabitants of Nahigongo would at no price sell 
 their provisions. A hunting excursion which I undertook 
 myself was without results, but one of the Beloods (soldiers) 
 shot a buffalo-antelope of the size of an ox. But what could 
 even a hundred-weight of flesh avail with so many hungry 
 Africans 1 ” 
 
 “ With the 4th December began another period of the year— 
 the season of rain. Already on the preceding days there had 
 predominated an intolerable sultriness. Every evening there 
 
36 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 towered dark clouds, harbingers of coming rain. At times 
 the rolling of distant thunder reached our ears. Every one 
 rejoiced in the hope of the coolness and freshness which the 
 approaching storm would bring. Late in the evening of the 
 same day the clouds, borne by the north-east monsoon, which 
 was just beginning, reached our neighbourhood, and at mid¬ 
 night the storm broke loose. It howled and whistled through 
 the poor huts, chased sand and stones into the deepest corners, 
 and waked in a trice even those caught in deepest sleep. With 
 vehement lightning and thunder, the weather at last dis¬ 
 charged itself, not at all by the breaking up of the clouds, as I 
 had expected, but only by a heavy rain lasting till morning.” 
 
 “ From the number of huts which are met with everywhere 
 we must conclude that the district is densely peopled; to our 
 surprise, however, we were not able to see the owners. They 
 had, as we afterwards learned, fled before us, as some Arabs 
 from Kilwa had told them that white men would come leading 
 trained lions to destroy all the blacks.” 
 
 “ Our next resting-place was Lukose, which we found 
 almost deserted of people; the chief left behind was friendly, 
 and when he was assured of our harmlessness, was sensible 
 enough to despatch a messenger to the mountains, and to 
 recall the villagers hidden there.” In the evening the 
 travellers heard their music. “ The instrument was like a 
 dulcimer—eight staves of wood, answering to the eight notes 
 of the octave, rest on their ends on two straw ropes. Two 
 people played on this, using both hands, not without skill. 
 The discovery of such an instrument, and the proof it affords 
 of an acquaintance with musical laws which so long remained 
 strange to the ancient Greeks, is an honour to the people. It 
 is not to be supposed that this class of music became known to 
 them from abroad, as the inhabitants of the coast are behind 
 them in this respect in cleverness and knowledge.” 
 
 “ On 6th December we proceeded, and crossed the so-called 
 Muira river. We made our camp for the night in the village 
 of the same name.” 
 
 “The way through the low marshy land was tedious and diffi¬ 
 cult, the air moist and sultry. At four o’clock P.M. we reached 
 Merui, a large village, if one may so name huts scattered 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 37 
 
 amongst out-stretching plantations. The greater part of the 
 inhabitants consist of Wagindo, who are known by this, that 
 they indent on their arms and breasts the most remarkable 
 figures, as of men, fish, birds, and the like, and sharply file 
 away their incisor teeth to beautify their faces. A particular 
 class of people trained to it carries on this profitable business 
 of beautifying as a trade. There are also some of the Wahiao 
 in Merui. These are marked by their smooth unadorned 
 skin, while they file their teeth as the others.” Neither of these 
 tribes, we may observe in passing, are slave-traders. 
 
 “Again I had the same need to obtain provisions. The people 
 are so obstinate that one can scarcely trade with them. Ten 
 times they measure the cloth to be exchanged, and desire, not 
 seldom before they have even brought or shown their wares, 
 the corresponding equivalent. Along with this, they fixed 
 extremely high prices. They appeared to know nothing of less 
 worth than a Mgono—an ell—14 inches Rhenish, and they 
 asked this price for a fowl, and also for two eggs.” 
 
 On the 12th December “we had a bad march to Kiangara 
 from six o’clock A.M., till four P.M., in ceaseless heavy rain, on 
 ways without a firm bottom, which were frequently almost 
 impassable, through little valleys and clefts filled with Avater.” 
 Koralli, Decken’s servant, meanwhile was so ill as to be unable 
 to travel on foot. A litter, however, was made for him, for 
 which six persons were hired, whose “ daily pay, besides food, 
 was six arm-lengths of Americano (American cotton cloth) of 
 the value of half a dollar—certainly an extortionately high 
 price.” 
 
 “ On the following day we travelled eight hours farther. 
 The land was still level and monotonous. Forest alternated 
 with a densely peopled, cultivated country. The overflowing 
 wealth of the country in water occasioned us many difficulties. 
 Yesterday we had already crossed the Iviperele, 25 feet broad 
 and two feet deep. To-day the Namitelle and Mihumu 
 detained us long, especially the latter, the banks of which were 
 so deep, that the asses had to be thrust by force into the water, 
 and drawn up again on the opposite side.” 
 
 “ This evening offered to my people a great festivity. A 
 ballad-singer came to the camp and played on a peculiarly 
 
:J8 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 formed instrument—a clean cut box, strung with eight strings. 
 The tones which he was able to draw from his lute sounded 
 by no means disagreeably.” 
 
 “ On the way to Luere, our next point, we had again to 
 traverse several streams—first a stagnant, marshy water, called 
 Kilimatanbo—later the Kuliuhu, a rapid stream of the size of 
 the Kiperele. Close to Luere there was a third slowly-flowing 
 river, tolerably clear in colour, of the same name as the place, 
 which we had to wade through. Luere reckons only two houses, 
 but offers provisions in quantities—flour and fowls are at a 
 moderate price, and a kind of peas of small angular form, in 
 size and taste like our lentils.” “ Now everything seemed to 
 promise well. We were early on the way on the following day. 
 The bearers and soldiers no longer burdened us with com¬ 
 plaints. Koralli felt himself so much stronger that of his own 
 accord he dispensed with his litter. With the exception of 
 some places, the land was thickly peopled and excellently 
 cultivated. Almost everywhere the people sold provisions 
 by the way with a fulness and variety that reminded us of the 
 most favoured coast lands. We were offered goats, fowls, 
 peas, beans, sweet potatoes, meal, sugar-cane, mangoes, and 
 pistachio nuts in plenty, if not quite at moderate prices. If 
 the people made in some measure the traffic more difficult 
 through their persistent efforts to deceive, yet we knew how 
 to attain our end, and luxuriated in superfluity.” 
 
 “ On the next day we reached, at mid-day, Nangungulu, 
 a place lying in a pleasing, richly watered country, 
 betwixt hills and high ranges. A mountain a thousand 
 feet high, the Lukunde, some miles north-west from our 
 encampment, caught my attention in the highest degree, 
 from its striking form—on the one side rising steep, it falls on 
 the other almost perpendicularly down—a mighty heap of 
 ruins, like a monument built up by giant hands and of unhewn 
 blocks. I climbed it; often I despaired of advancing, but each 
 time I found some projecting rock which permitted me to climb; 
 and after an hour and a half of laborious ascent, I reached the 
 top. A wild view opened before my astonished gaze. The 
 Mbaha and Makundue mountains rose on the south, grotesque 
 and rugged, with their jagged horns and points, a mass of 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 33 
 
 huge cones in every stage of overthrow—here running steeply 
 upwards, there with the point rooted in the ground, not unlike 
 the curious sandstone formations of Saxony and Bohemia.” 
 
 “ I took up my quarters at Mesule, a very rich peninsula, 
 in which bananas, maize, sugar, cotton, rice, potatoes, 
 cocoa-nuts, &c., are cultivated, without ceremony, in the 
 best house of the place, although its possessor, the old Sultan 
 Djemac, was absent. Far from being angry, the friendly 
 man, on his return, presented me with eggs, kassava roots, 
 etc., introduced to me his pretty young son, and did not 
 change his bearing when I remarked to him, that I could not 
 return his gifts, as my “ Msigo ” had not yet arrived. The 
 inhabitants of the village showed themselves less friendly. 
 They were niggardly as to those provisions which they had in 
 over-abundance, demanded a certain price, but refused to sell 
 when I would pay it, and raised their demands still higher.” 
 
 It was at Mesule, as we have already stated, that Yon der 
 Decken was reluctantly obliged to return. He attributes bad 
 faith to his guide, who gave as his reason the impossibility of 
 advance, because war was raging at Lake Nyassa. The route 
 he followed on his way back was not quite the same, latterly 
 somewhat more to the south, but still in the same district of 
 country. 
 
 He visited Luere. “I enjoyed,” he says, “the afternoon 
 shooting wild pigeons, and the evening at a musical represent¬ 
 ation by the inhabitants. The instrument used on this 
 occasion was of another kind from that seen before, and 
 outrivalled in simplicity those in use on the coast. It was a 
 violin, a monochord. By the shortening of the string with 
 the finger the artist knew how to entice a surprising variety 
 of tones from this peculiar instrument.” 
 
 “ We crossed the Ruhuliu at another point—its rocky bed 
 had about as much water as eight days before. On its shore 
 we met a number of the people of Seelem Ben Abdallah; they 
 said that he and Banafumo had not yet left Kilwa. “ We slept 
 in the densely-peopled district of Nassoro, which lies betwixt 
 the stations formerly visited by us—Nihilala and Kipindimbe.” 
 “ Everywhere on our way the road was crowded with people 
 expecting the great caravan coming from the interior.” As they 
 
40 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AERICA. 
 
 pursued their way they learned that all the inhabitants near 
 them had fled, as in the neighbourhood a fight was going on 
 between the tribes of the Wagindo and Waiao. With careful 
 listening he could, indeed, hear distant firing. Thus our 
 traveller had, before the 28th December, left behind him 
 daily a considerable part of the way,” and had reached Nam- 
 guira through a thickly-peopled district of country. After 
 leaving this the way was, Yon cler Decken found, difficult “with 
 broad earth-rents and steep descending banks of numerous dry 
 water-beds.” The next resting-point our traveller reached was 
 Kunguruha. Here he hoped to obtain provisions, as some of the 
 inhabitants must have seen and known him at Kilwa, only a 
 journey of a day and a half distant. “ I deceived myself, not the 
 smallest thing could I obtain without payment, not even after 
 my promise to pay richly on my return into the city those willing 
 to help me.” “ They had certainly refused me even if I had 
 begged from house to house.” “ Their hatred of the European 
 or of the Christian went beyond their covetousness. A com¬ 
 passionate soul however I found—the wife of the chief, then 
 absent.” On the 31st December Yon cler Decken left this un¬ 
 friendly place. On reaching Lungu, an insignificant village, he 
 found the same reception. “ His mouth felt dried up after 
 the fatiguing march through the hot plains—the drinking 
 water was bad and briny, but in vain he asked the people to 
 give him the refreshment of one of their numerous cocoa-nuts, 
 scarcely to them of any value.” After further fatigues the 
 Baron reached Kilwa at last on the first day of January, 1861. 
 He immediately got possession of his old dwelling—despatched 
 help to Koralli, and his other servants left behind, and betook 
 himself to rest after his weary journey. We have already said 
 that his fatigues induced fever. So soon as he recovered from 
 it he betook himself to the Sultan of Zanzibar, hoping for re¬ 
 dress for the wrong done to him, but the Sultan was not at that 
 time in the mood to gi'ant much help to the enterprising 
 traveller. 
 
 This interesting narrative gives a very satisfactory 
 account of the country as it was in the end of 1860. The 
 physical features seem to present no difficulty in the 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 41 
 
 making of a road that might not be reduced to a minimum 
 by the selection of a line varied by a few miles from 
 one or the other of those traversed by Yon der Decken. 
 Especially by keeping a little to the north on the line of 
 the ninth parallel, the route would be more direct, and 
 being nearer the water-shed, the small rivers would be 
 passed as mere brooks. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EASTERN AFRICA AT THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 Over the dense population then living in the country 
 a sad change has however come, and we cannot describe 
 this better than in the words of Bishop Steere in his 
 “ Walk to the Nyassa country,” published less than a 
 year ago. Bishop Steere, whose learning in African 
 languages is pre-eminent, it will be observed, omits the 
 prefixes, so that Wagindo becomes Gindo, and Waiao, 
 Yao. The Dondes seem to have inhabited the country 
 west of the point reached by Von der Decken. 
 
 Old traders say that the road from Kilwa to the Nyassa 
 used to lie entirely through an inhabited country where food 
 of all sorts was fabulously abundant. West of Kilwa lay the 
 Gindos and south of them the Mweras, west of both these the 
 Dondes, and then on the lower Rovuma Matambwes, and on 
 the upper and along the Lake, Yaos. South and east of the 
 Lake, Nyassas, and east of them again the Bisas, who were 
 ardent traders, and used to send down caravans of their own 
 to Kilwa. The great disturbers of this state of things were 
 the Maviti or Mazitu, a Zulu army sent on an unsuccessful 
 expedition, which, instead of returning to be decimated, went 
 north and found a new home round the north end of the 
 Nyassa, whence they plundered and burnt in all directions, 
 
42 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 even sending an army against Kilwa itself, and for the time 
 stopping all trade. They were not great slave-dealers, but 
 used to cut off the left hand of such captives as they did not 
 kill. I saw many men thus mutilated. 
 
 It is said that during the suspension of trade, some people, 
 called Magwangwara, from near the Lufiji, came to Kilwa, to 
 ask why no cloth now came to them, and being told of the 
 Maviti, promised at once to clear them out of the way, which 
 they did so effectually, that the Maviti are no longer dreaded. 
 But the Gwangwaras, having felt their power, became still 
 worse destroyers than the Maviti had been, and all the more 
 so because they found that slaves were valuable merchandise 
 in the eyes of the Kilwa men. Their custom is to incorporate 
 the more likely of their captives into their own tribes, the rest 
 they offer for sale, and if they cannot get a good price they 
 kill them. The scattered remnants of the Gindos and Doncles 
 were an easy prey, and for a time the Zanzibar market was 
 full of Gindo slaves. The smaller Yao chiefs could offer but 
 little resistance, and though the Gwangwaras have never 
 ventured to cross a large river, or to attack a village in the 
 mountains, they soon found they could easily cross the upper 
 Bov lima in the dry season, and so the country to the south as 
 well as that to the north of the river lay open to them. The 
 poor remains of the Gindos flee backward and forward as they 
 hear of the approach of their dreaded enemies, and the few 
 Dondes left have generally taken to the trade of thieving. 
 
 I have mentioned a village on the Bovuma under an excep¬ 
 tional instance of a fighting Gindo, Mpingawandu (stopper of 
 people), who has under him a mixed party of broken men, his 
 chief lieutenant being a Donde, and the best of his fighting 
 men the remnant of the Maviti army, which went to attack 
 Kilwa, and were afraid to return to their own chiefs. I saw 
 in this village several men with their hair worked into a 
 Kafir ring, and with faces of the Zulu type. Mpingawandu 
 says that he is tired of war, and wishes to live peaceably, 
 which he carries into practice by squeezing to the utmost 
 caravans, and bullying his more timid neighbours. The Yaos 
 might easily, if they were united, keep the Gwangwaras from 
 crossing the Bovuma, and though some of the bolder have 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 43 
 
 beaten them off, as it is said one chief, Kandulu, did this last 
 season (1875), there are many smaller chiefs who can do 
 nothing but flee. 
 
 The stoppage of the Ivilwa slave trade would take away the 
 motive of these Gwangwara raids, and the existence of a city 
 of Refuge under men bold enough to give them two or three 
 crushing defeats would teach them not to treat their neigh¬ 
 bours as cattle to be driven at their will. Badly handled, ill- 
 made flint guns are not much better than their own spears and 
 shields, but a few modern rifles would soon teach them a 
 different lesson. Now, however, strong thieves get gunpowder 
 as the price of slaves, and the peaceable are deprived of their 
 only means of defence. 
 
 How far we are yet in time to save a remnant of these 
 industrious races by making at once at Lukose, or some 
 place thereabouts, where the plateau rises to above 1,000 
 feet, and at Mesule, or some place to the north of it, 
 defensible stations to which they might rally, is one of 
 the important questions which no time should be lost in 
 settling. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TRUE POSITION OF THE LAKES, AND ASPECT 
 OF THE COUNTRY BETWEEN THEM. 
 
 Accordino to the map attached to Livingstone’s 
 posthumous journal, and the circumnavigation of Nyassa, 
 as laid down by Mr. Young, we ought, at the distance 
 
44 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 of about 120 miles from Mesule, to find the head of 
 Lake Nyassa.* 
 
 But, on referring to the map attached to Livingstone’s 
 “Zambesi and its Tributaries,” which was prepared under 
 his own superintendence, we find that Lake Nyassa trends 
 considerably more to the westward as you proceed north 
 from the foot of the lake to the extent of one and a half 
 points of the compass. In the sketch-map annexed, I have 
 placed the island of Chisamooloo, at the third ferry, in the 
 position assigned by Livingstone. North of that point 
 to the eleventh parallel, if you follow Livingstone’s 
 general line, making corrections in detail from Mr. 
 Young’s map, you get a result somewhat like that given 
 in the sketch. 
 
 For the last hundred and twenty miles some further 
 adjustment of Mr. Young’s map seems required by 
 Livingstone’s statement, in speaking of a view from a 
 point close to the shore, and at a height of 1,000 feet above 
 the lake. In a note to his map he says, “ Looking north 
 from the farthest point reached the mountains are higher 
 than to the south, and seem to rise out of the lake.” Mr. 
 Young’s map as drawn would indicate that he must 
 have had a clear water horizon northward for 160 
 miles from where he stood. If from any cause, such as 
 the presence of iron in the Livingstone Mountains, we can 
 suppose an increase of the variation of the compass 
 beyond this point, we can reconcile the contradictions as 
 
 * The question here is as to the amount of deviation of the 
 compass, which becomes important when the results of the circum¬ 
 navigation have to be recorded in the general system of the 
 geography of the country, but which it was less necessary to take 
 into account for the purposes of a local map. 
 
 The publication of Commander Cameron’s excellent map since our 
 sketch map was prepared, has confirmed the conclusions on this point 
 drawn from Livingstone and Yon der Decken. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 45 
 
 shown in the sketch. But in order to determine where 
 the head of the lake really lies, we must adduce further 
 evidence. 
 
 In the very carefully prepared map which accompanied 
 the publication of Yon der Decken’s travels, dated 1871, 
 there is laid down a route from Bagamoio, opposite 
 Zanzibar, through Maroro and Ubena, to a place called 
 Irango’s chief town (Residenz). Who the traveller was 
 who made this journey in the year 1857 does not appear 
 from the map; but the information conveyed seems 
 definite and precise, and to be confirmed where there is 
 an opportunity of testing it. A short distance westward 
 of this point is outlined a great lake, quite the shape of 
 the northern reach of Nyassa, or perhaps of the trough in 
 the plateau in which it lies, as it would be seen by a spec¬ 
 tator approaching from this direction. (See Map.) 
 
 It is here proper to notice that I have drawn the 
 sketch-map of the south end of Tanganika, according to 
 the latitude and longitude Livingstone actually observed 
 at Pambete, instead of 25 miles to the westward, as in 
 some maps. Although Livingstone says his head was 
 not right, yet these observations being taken in 1867, 
 when he was but beginning his journey, and with a sea 
 horizon before him, till other observations are made 
 which conclusively disprove them, we must accept them 
 as the only means of settling the positions of points of 
 which we know the distance from this centre through 
 all that region. 
 
 When at an Arab station called Chitimbwah, a little 
 south-west of Pambete, Livingstone makes the following 
 observations:— 
 
 “ The Arabs inform me that between this and the sea, 
 about 200 miles distant, lies the country of the Wasango— 
 called Usango—a fair people like Portuguese, and very friendly 
 
40 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 to strangers. The Wasango possess plenty of cattle ; their 
 chief is called Meffire. They count this 25 days, while the 
 distance to the sea at Bagamoio is one month and 25 days— 
 say 440 miles. . . . Merere goes frequently on marauding 
 
 expeditions for cattle, and is instigated thereto by his mother.” 
 
 Again—-“The Wasongo seem much like Zulus; they go 
 naked, and have prodigious numbers of cattle, which occupy 
 the same huts with the owners. Oxen two shukahs each ; 
 plenty of milk. Merere is very liberal with his cattle, and 
 gives every one an ox. There is no rice, but maize and maere. 
 Merere had plenty of ivory when the Arabs first came, lint 
 now has none.” 
 
 Measuring two hundred miles towards the coast from 
 Chitimbwah we find the country called in Yon der 
 Decken’s map TJ-ungu to be identical with Livingstone’s 
 U-s-ango or U-s-ongo. Taking the remarks formerly 
 quoted from Bishop Steere in connection, it is reasonable 
 to suppose that we have here the Zulu settlement, and 
 that Yon der Decken’s large lake, though placed thirty 
 miles N.N.W. of the true position, if we accept Mr. 
 Young’s latitude, is really meant for the northern reach 
 of Lake Nyassa. Conformed to this adjustment ot 
 thirty miles, the sketch-map shows details of native 
 routes, mountain ranges, and rivers, chiefly taken from 
 Yon der Decken’s map, where confirmed by other sources 
 of information, which are of considerable importance. 
 For the practical purpose in view the position of the lakes 
 may be reckoned sufficiently established. 
 
 With regard to the physical aspects of the south-east 
 coast of Lake Tanganika and of the country adjoining, 
 we have a very good idea of it from Livingstone’s 
 severe land journey across the lines of denudation 
 close to the lake, and also from Cameron’s voyage, and 
 the return journey of Livingstone’s boys. We know 
 that from somewhere about what is marked Liemba 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 47 
 
 Harbour a good port could be selected, and a road 
 carried along the lines of denudation to the plateau. We 
 know that it would pass clear of the mountain range of 
 three or four thousand feet crossed by the boys to the 
 north of this point, and probably dividing the higher 
 plateau from the lower. 
 
 The basin of Lake Nyassa, which is of similar origin 
 to Tanganika, we almost certainly know ends like that 
 lake, abruptly in the plateau, although from the hasty 
 observations made from the deck of the steamer, part of 
 the end seems filled up and forms a valley; but the 
 difference of opinion between Mr. Young and I)r. Lawes 
 as to whether the small river ran in or out of the lake 
 must, we think, be settled in favour of the former view. 
 The line would pass north of the Livingstone Mountains 
 to the Zulu or Mazitu settlement, which seems to 
 be on the northern slope of these mountains, where the 
 streams begin to run towards the Lufiji. The fact of 
 native routes passing through this way from Bemba and 
 Chitimbwah to Bagamoio shows that no serious physical 
 obstacles exist to the making of roads. 
 
 Between this settlement and Mesule we find the dis¬ 
 tance to be 200 or 210 miles. We have been informed 
 that this was a trade route in the memory of persons still 
 living at Zanzibar, but disused because the Mazitu per¬ 
 mitted no slaves to pass. From all the indications 
 given by the flow of the rivers, which form the head¬ 
 waters passing south-eastward to the Rovuma there, 
 seems no doubt that the route would be on the watershed 
 of the country between these and the affluents of the 
 Lufiji, and so far as was observed from the hill Lukanda, 
 near Mesule, there seemed there a continuation of a plateau 
 gradually rising to the westward, with isolated rocks or 
 hills scattered over it. Whether this was the great 
 
48 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 western route which made Kilwa a city of 300 mosques,* 
 and whether it is suited for the modern requirements of a 
 tramway, which will virtually make the starting point 
 for central Africa the north end of Nyassa, are points 
 which might be very well ascertained this summer. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ORIGIN AND RECENT HISTORY OF THE MAZITU. 
 
 In Livingstone’s “Zambezi and its Tributaries,” he says 
 that the region from which the Zulu army that settled 
 north of Nyassa originally came was the country behind 
 Sofala and Inhambane, south of the Zambezi, and that 
 they are the same people as those who levy tribute 
 from the Portuguese at Tete and Senna. 
 
 As it is of great importance to throw as much light as 
 possible upon the Mazitu, who have never been visited by 
 any known European traveller, and are yet the nearest 
 neighbours of Livingstonia on the north, we give these 
 extracts from the standard work on the natives of South 
 Africa recently published by Dr. Fritsch, premising that 
 the prefix u’m corresponds with ma or wa in other 
 African languages. 
 
 “ The only people who in earlier times had given a certain 
 reputation to their name were the U’mtetwa, who preserved 
 the tradition of having come from a more northern country, 
 and we may with probability assume that the name Yatwah or 
 Batwa that occurs in old writings is to be attributed to them. 
 They were talked of under these names among their neighbours 
 (at Delagoa Bay), and not without reason, as the first origina¬ 
 tors of the great war.” 
 
 * Editor of Yon der Decken’s Travels. In narrative of Yasco de 
 Gama’s first voyage the population is said to be 12,000. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 49 
 
 “ North of Delagoa Bay, not far from the coast, the Tefula 
 dialect of the Zulu is said to be the same as is generally spoken 
 among the people of Sotshangene, the successor of Zwite. By 
 the latest discoveries of Livingstone the Zulus have penetrated 
 nearly to the equator, and in all these lands are the most 
 dreaded warlike nation.” 
 
 This may be considered as confirmed by some remarks 
 in our consular reports. Shortly after the great outbreak 
 of the Zulus in the second decade of this century, which 
 led to the formation of Moselekatze’s kingdom, and to a 
 complete rearrangement of South African states, we find 
 that the coast settlements of the Portuguese were attacked 
 by a people called Yatuas. In 1833 they dismantled the 
 fort of Lorenzo Marques at Delagoa Bay. In 1834 the 
 governor and all the inhabitants of Inhambane fell into 
 the hands of Manicusse, chief of the Northern Yatuas. 
 In 1836, Sofala was attacked, pillaged, and burnt by 
 them. 
 
 The name Vatwa or Yatua resembles the name Yiti, by 
 which, with the usual prefix via, the tribe settled to the 
 north of Lake Nyassa is known near the coast. The 
 letter v in both cases is probably a softer sound for the 
 letter 0 , which in Spanish is pronounced like til, so that 
 the name Ma Zitu, by which they are known at a greater 
 distance from the Portuguese, is really the same. Another 
 prefix, and the pronunciation of the 0 hard, gives the 
 name Wa Tuta, by which they are known on Lake 
 Tanganika. 
 
 We have not been able to fix the precise date of the 
 migration northward of the army that preferred a new 
 home in the fastnesses of the Livingstone Mountains to 
 returning after defeat, nor the cause of their defeat. It 
 would be an interesting inquiry whether the object of 
 
 the expedition was an attack on the Portuguese settle- 
 
 i> 
 
50 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 rnents north of the Zambezi, and whether it was by the 
 guns of the British cruisers that they were prevented 
 from driving the Portuguese into the sea, for there are 
 records of such events. 
 
 Of the recent history of their government some hints are 
 given in conversations Livingstone had with Arab traders 
 when he was detained in Manyuema in 1870. They will 
 be found at pages 88, 97, and 98 of the second volume 
 of his last journals. 
 
 They are a little fragmentary, but we read them thus. 
 That seven chiefs or military leaders came northwards, 
 of whom the survivor Charura, having added to his own 
 family those of the other chiefs as they died, was reckoned 
 the progenitor of the royal family, which the Arabs 
 remark upon as being white like the Portuguese, with 
 straight and thin noses, a statement which must be con¬ 
 nected with the consideration that we should regard the 
 Portuguese met with in the interior of Africa as being of 
 very dark complexion. 
 
 His successor was Moenyegumbe, who is described as a 
 man of great stature, and powerful enough, in Arab 
 phrase, to strike his spear through an elephant; and he 
 was also a man remarkable for temperance, wisdom, and 
 courage. 
 
 His successor Goambari was deficient in these cpialities, 
 which led to a strange episode. Moenyegumbe had 
 bestowed his daughter Kimamure upon a military leader 
 who had distinguished himself in fighting the people of 
 Bema on the north-east, but who was a dark-coloured 
 man of common extraction, named Garahenga. Of this 
 marriage came Mereid, whom his mother incited to 
 possess himself of power. They killed many of the 
 descendants of Charura, of whom there were as many as 
 sixty able spearmen in the third generation. To prevent 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 51 
 
 Goambari, in whose name they seem to have ruled, 
 from throwing himself into the hands of Monyungo, who 
 meditated a bloody revenge, they surrounded him with a 
 guard of a thousand men, so as to have him as their 
 prisoner. 
 
 But Merere listens to tales that the Arab traders 
 are plotting to free Goambari, kills one of them, and 
 confiscates the property of the others, thus shutting 
 up the trade route. Then he becomes of a contrary 
 opinion, and puts to death five of his own people for 
 telling him lies about the Arabs, and offers com¬ 
 pensation to the traders to induce them to return. The 
 expedition against Kilwa, mentioned by Bishop Steere, 
 may have been an attempt to rescue the country 
 from its consecjuent isolation, but its failure would 
 increase his unpopularity. The end is, that after giving 
 way to habitual intoxication with native beer, he is 
 reputed insane, and by last accounts, in 1873, had been 
 put to death. 
 
 Whether the weak Goambari or the revengeful Mon¬ 
 yungo is now chief we do not know, nor whether the 
 ending of the exceptional position of the government will 
 lead to the giving up of those savage raids which have 
 been indulged in over a radius of 250 miles from their 
 central stronghold. 
 
 The Ma Yiti have indeed been heard of as far south as 
 Magomero, within eighty miles of the Zambezi, but that 
 may be the remains of the defeated army working their 
 way back to the original settlements of their race. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 52 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AS TO OPENING OF ROADS. 
 
 We conclude with some observations on the effects of 
 the opening of such a route as is proposed. 
 
 First, in its missionary aspect, besides the opening up 
 of new fields of operations of the most important kind, it 
 would be of great consequence, as furnishing an alter¬ 
 native connection with the coast to the London Missionary 
 Society, in case of the road between Ujiji and Zanzibar 
 being blocked up by war. It would also be useful in the 
 same sense to the Scottish Missions at the south end of 
 Nyassa, but not to the same degree, as they have pro¬ 
 bably by this time a route to the Zanzibar coast at Lindy, 
 so as to make them independent of the Portuguese if 
 they desire it. But the most important aspect is this, 
 that in these Livingstone mountains we have the proper 
 sanitarium for all the missions from the Zambezi to Ujiji, 
 with convenient access by water from both north and 
 south, and, if these roads were opened, from all directions. 
 
 The commercial aspects are important, because the 
 position of the terminus at the great lakes is very favour¬ 
 able for the distribution of goods over a vast area, and for 
 receiving products in return, not only along the shores of 
 these lakes, but by a moderate land journey to the Cham- 
 beze, along the shores of Bangweolo, and the Luapula river. 
 
 While the land routes have attention, it must not be 
 forgotten that there is a great line of water communica¬ 
 tion extending, with only two breaks at the rapids of the 
 Shire and at this point, from the mouth of the Zambezi 
 1,200 miles to the head of Lake Tanganika. A road of 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 53 
 
 100 or 120 miles in length between the two lakes, 
 which would be continuous with the road from the east 
 coast, would complete this for traffic. 
 
 If the general view of the geography of the country 
 which has been presented is considered, it will be apparent 
 that, if a depot of goods were formed near the Mazitu 
 settlement north of Nyassa, it could be supplied on equally 
 favourable rates for transit, from the mouth of the Zambezi 
 or from Kilwa. The question of the mercantile supply of 
 Eastern Central Africa is one which will therefore pro¬ 
 bably be determined by the wisdom and liberality of the 
 arrangements made by those in charge of those stations. 
 Under the wise counsels of Dr. Kirk, Zanzibar is already 
 moving in the matter, and may be expected to retain the 
 lead, the duties being 5 per cent.* 
 
 Other questions of government might be settled by 
 the proposed road. Three or four stations across the 
 country from the coast for 250 miles inland would stop 
 the raids of the Gangwaras. That of itself would be 
 most important, permitting the industrious races to settle 
 down again upon their fertile lands. But the great 
 problem is how to approach the Kaffir race of Ma Zitu 
 or Ma Viti, who dominate the country for 200 miles round 
 the head of Nyassa, so as to induce them to govern for 
 their own advantage and that of those around them. It 
 would be a difficult task, but there can be no settlement 
 of the country till it is accomplished. The American 
 Missions in Natal are now, we believe, advancing to 
 form stations among the parent stock behind Sofala; 
 and the German Missionaries of the Transvaal are only 
 prevented by want of funds from advancing to the 
 same region. When things are settled a little at the 
 south end of Lake Nyassa, we should like to have the 
 * For Portuguese tariffs see page 27. 
 
54 
 
 NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 report of a deputation from the Livingstonia colony, 
 with some native Kaffirs to interpret, to the great chief 
 at the head of the lake. Prospects of trade could be pre¬ 
 sented, connection with the outside world, and with the 
 race from whom they came. Trade might be first in 
 ivory and light articles; and if there were increased 
 facilities of transit, in hides and horns and such bulky 
 goods. The chief might be paid for the maintenance and 
 security of a road first between the lakes, and then 
 towards Kilwa. Lads might be taken to Livingstonia or 
 Lovedale for industrial education; wagon-building might 
 be introduced; school .learning and religious instruction 
 might follow. 
 
 If the bolder policy Avere to be adopted to effect the 
 survey from Kilwa westAvard this year, so as to be 
 fully prepared to take more advanced steps in the follow¬ 
 ing year, three elements should be represented in the 
 party to be sent. First, persons capable of judging of 
 the general line of the country, so as to lay out a road, 
 and also to select the permanent stations Avith a due 
 regard to sanitary and defensive consideration; second, 
 persons capable of judging of the capabilities of the soil, 
 especially for the growth of tropical products; third, 
 persons capable of judging in Avhat Avay trade could be 
 best deA r eloped. The country near the lakes, according 
 to Livingstone, produces the South American quality of 
 cotton; palm oil, India-rubber, sugar, &c., Avould be pro¬ 
 bable products; and coal, iron, copper, &c., are spoken of. 
 
 At the usual rate of African travelling, the journey to 
 the Zulu toAvn would occupy rather less than tAvo months. 
 That a line of route could be marked out in that time 
 Avould appear to be possible from the experience of the 
 Rev. Roger Price. We should be disposed to think that 
 a band of Uniamwezi woodcutters might easily remove 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 the few obstructions that appear to present themselves to 
 the passage of Scotch carts and wagons, which would 
 be useful in forming a camp at once when halting. 
 
 To give a very general idea of the nature of the under¬ 
 taking, in respect of expense, it is sufficient to say that a 
 mere rapid survey of the country might be made for 
 about £2,000 or £3,000. The expense of a road like the 
 Indian jungle roads would be about £40 a mile. A tram¬ 
 way suitable for locomotives, if we may judge from the 
 experience of the South African Copper Mines, might be 
 made complete with rolling stock for £1,000 a mile, as 
 far as the land continued as level as Yon der Decken 
 found it.* 
 
 Had the dense industrial populations Decken found on 
 the way to Mesule, and the continuous villages on Lake 
 Nyassa, and the diligent workers who terraced the slopes 
 of Tanganika for cotton growing, not been all swept 
 away, such a tramway might at once have been made 
 with confidence of successful results. But, during the 
 last sixteen years, the jungle has covered most of the 
 cultivated lands, and progress must be tentative till we 
 know whether remnants of the destroyed races remain to 
 come from their hiding-places, and reclaim them. 
 
 Pending the time required for such movements to 
 take effect, it is of some importance to maintain 
 the trade route from Zanzibar territory to the south of 
 Lake Nyassa. Dr. Steere, almost single-handed, has been 
 keeping it open by journeys to Mataka’s town; but the 
 country is, like that farther north, in a state of anarchy, 
 and defensive stations are required to enable the people 
 to resume their settled occupations. It is a matter of 
 justice to Mataka and the other chiefs, whose means of 
 communication with the coast have been cut off by our 
 
 * For details see Handbook for Cape Colony, J. Noble page 83. 
 
NOTES ON SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. 
 
 56 
 
 action in stopping the slave trade, to render the interval 
 as short as possible, and to facilitate in every way the 
 resumption of commercial intercourse. Unless we do 
 this, we cannot expect that these chiefs will retain their 
 respect for the pass of the Seyid of Zanzibar. 
 
 Of the programme indicated we may mention that the 
 Free Church wrote three months ago to Livingstonia, 
 calling attention to the importance of getting into com¬ 
 munication with the Mazitu. As mentioned above, the 
 mission has already had some relations with the scattered 
 bands of this race at the southern end of the lake,* which 
 may facilitate communications farther north. 
 
 When the route from the east coast is opened, we hope 
 the Scottish missions may have shaken hands with the 
 London Missionary Society across the isthmus that 
 divides the lakes, and that a firm base of operations may 
 then be attained for advancing westwards to put down 
 the slave trade, of which Captain Cameron has just given 
 such thrilling details. 
 
 * These Mazitu told Mr. E. D. Young that they had crossed the 
 Zambezi near Zurnbo, where the Soangwa joins it, in the year 1836. 
 They are probably an offshoot from the Zulu invaders, who formed 
 the Matabele kingdom about that time. The concession of the 
 right of gold mining recently obtained by Mr. Baines in favour of 
 the South Africa Gold Company from this king, extends nearly to 
 Zurnbo. 
 
 ROBERT JIACLEHOSE, PRINTER, 153 WEST NILE STREET, GLASGOW, 
 
Moafia I 
 
 4000 r . 1 
 
 'xumvanga 
 
 ybonit>e 
 
 
 LT-ir N g\j oR/tT-SIANGO 
 
 Nahigongtfatift, 
 
 6000 f» 
 
 Ijamga 
 
 SETTLEMENT 
 
 
 MestHe 
 
 Mambwe 
 
 lildmhu ''!< 
 
 Na/wuniiuru 
 
 Pembi 
 
 Jtovuirui . R 
 
 lC.D elgado 
 
 7000 ft 
 
 Mas iso 
 
 Mtardctv. 
 
 Livingstone's furthest 
 
 Scale of Siatute Miles 
 
 £Leva liens in Feei, 
 
 Chishamooloo .1 ,d 
 
 Dimoko.I 
 
 Village 
 
 Longitude 
 
 6000 ft