[16]. 100 to the rupee.
[17]. Chingulungulu is a Yao word, meaning the turquoise blue beads which have always been a staple article of trade since the days of the ancient Egyptians.
[18]. The “phenomenon” can scarcely be considered surprising, in view of Dr. Weule’s previous remarks (see p. [52]), and his subsequent confession of the difficulty he experienced in keeping his carriers out of mischief at Chingulungulu. It is not apparent from the narrative whether it occurred to him to inquire into their behaviour at Masasi. They need not be set down as reprobates beyond all other wapagazi. The carrier expects to work hard on the march, and to rest and enjoy himself with his family about him in his own village, also to have some sort of a spree, in reason, when paid off on the Coast, in the interval between two journeys. But a lengthened period of inaction, in the middle of a safari, and in a strange country, is something quite outside his scheme of life, and it is no wonder if he gets demoralized.
[19]. “Bad insects!”
[20]. A species of alcohol expressly designed for native consumption, and more especially as a present to chiefs and headmen. Dr. Weule refers to it again later on, but gives no particulars as to its chemical constitution.—[Tr.]
[21]. This is surely a mistake, unless the word “blush” is only to be used of turning red. Natives certainly change colour under stress of emotion.—[Tr.]
[22]. This must be taken with some reservations. Even in 1862, when Livingstone ascended the Rovuma for the first time, he repeatedly found villages deserted for fear of the slavers, whose main route from Kilwa to Nyasa crossed the Rovuma above Kichokomane. Matters seem to have become worse in this respect by 1866. See Livingstone’s Last Journals, Vol. I, pp. 24, 37, 39, 41 and elsewhere. The Mazitu (Wangoni) had already become a terror by the latter date. Ib., p. 43, etc.—[Tr.]
[23]. Joseph Thomson made the same remark with regard to the Mahenge somewhat further north.—See To the Central African Lakes and Back, Vol. I, p. 188.—[Tr.]
[24]. A well-known German humorist, one of the principal contributors to Fliegende Blätter.
[25]. This is the Matola who welcomed the U.M.C.A. missionaries to Newala, in 1877, and of whom the late Bishop Maples said: “He is without exception the most intelligent and the most pleasing African I know. He has many excellent qualities, and withal an amount of energy that is rare in that part of the world. He has a fund of information about the people, the country, and the languages, of which he can speak six.” Matola died at Newala in October, 1895.—[Tr.]