On passing a beautiful village Gucci Fabric by the yard, called Bangwe, surrounded by shady trees, and placed in a valley among mountains, we were admiring the beauty of the situation, when some of the much dreaded Mazitu, with their shields, ran out of the hamlet, from which we were a mile distant They began to scream to their companions to give us chase Without quickening our pace we walked on, and soon were in a wood, through which the footpath we were following led The first intimation we had of the approaching Mazitu was given by the Johanna man, Zachariah, who always lagged behind, running up, screaming as if for his life The bundles were all put in one place to be defended; and Masiko and Dr Livingstone walked a few paces back to meet the coming foe Masiko knelt down anxious to fire, but was ordered not to do so For a second or two dusky forms appeared among the trees, and the Mazitu were asked, in their own tongue, "What do you want" Masiko adding, "What do you say" No answer was given, but the dark shade in the forest vanished They had evidently taken us for natives, and the sight of a white man was sufficient to put them to flight Had we been nearer the Coast, where the people are accustomed to the slave-trade, we should have found this affair a more difficult one to deal with; but, as a rule, the people of the interior are much more mild in character than those on the confines of civilization.
The above very small adventure was all the danger we were aware of in this journey; but a report was spread from the Portuguese villages on the Zambesi, similar to several rumours that had been raised before, that Dr Livingstone had been murdered by the Makololo; and very unfortunately the report reached England before it could be contradicted.
One benefit arose from the Mazitu adventure.
A party of Babisa tobacco-traders came from the NW In the evening two of the Babisa came in, and reported that the Mazitu had followed us to the village called Chigaragara, at which we slept at the bottom of the descent.
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