The chiefs have scarcely any power unless they are men of energy; they have to court the people rather than be courted.

We came much further back on our way from Mapuio's than we liked; in fact, our course is like that of a vessel baffled with foul winds: this is mainly owing to being obliged to avoid places stripped of provisions or suffering this spoliation.

The people, too, can give no information about others at a distance from their own abodes.

Even the smiths, who are a most plodding set of workers, are as ignorant as the others: they supply the surrounding villages with hoes and knives, and, combining agriculture with handicraft, pass through life.

An intelligent smith came as our guide from Chimbimbe Hill on the 7th, and did not know a range of mountains about twenty miles off: "it was too far off for him to know the name." _9th November, 1866._--The country over which we actually travel is level and elevated, but there are mountains all about, which when put on the map make it appear to be a mountainous region.