or a cow, or a couple of pieces of calico; in the western part of the kingdom it is much lower, and in the north, in the upper Kashteja, a slave may be purchased for a few strings of beads. There are no public slave-markets, but slaves may be bought in any of the villages. The Mambari, who are the chief buyers and vendors, set the negroes the vilest of examples. With their prayer-books in their hand, they endeavour to represent themselves as Christians to any one who can read or write, but they are utterly unworthy of the name they pretend to bear, and so far from advancing in any way the civilization of the superstitious tribes on the Zambesi, they only minister to their deeper degradation.
Unless a man is an absolute vassal in the strictest sense, he may, with his master’s permission; have several wives, and free women who have not been given away or sold as slaves are allowed to choose what husbands they please. The preference given to female rulers causes the weaker sex to be treated with far more consideration than they receive amongst the Bechuana and Zulu races, where they are reckoned as servants, not to speak of the Masarwas, who treat their women as mere beasts of burden.
On the 10th we received the melancholy news that Bauren, Westbeech’s assistant, had died of fever at Panda ma Tenka.
The next day, Kapella, the commander-in-chief, came to our quarters with a message from the king to say that he was sending six boats to convey Westbeech’s ivory to Impalera. Westbeech sent word back that he required double that number of boats, and moreover that he was not ready to start
