one of his annual inspections to visit the east coast of Africa
and the Mauritius. In five days more we touched at East London,
and, thence proceeding north, made a short stay at Delagoa Bay,
where I first became acquainted with the Zulu Kafirs, a naked set
of negroes, whose national costume principally consists in having
their hair trussed up like a hoop on the top of the head, and an
appendage like a thimble, to which they attach a mysterious
importance. They wear additional ornaments, charms, &c., of
birds' claws, hoofs and horns of wild animals tied on with
strings, and sometimes an article like a kilt, made of loose
strips of skin, or the entire skins of vermin strung close
together. These things I have merely noticed in passing, because
I shall hereafter have occasion to allude to a migratory people,
the Watuta, who dressing much in the same manner, extend from
Lake N'yassa to Uzinza, and may originally have been a part of
this same Kafir race, who are themselves supposed to have
migrated from the regions at present occupied by the Gallas. Next
day (the 28th) we went on to Europa, a small island of coralline,
covered with salsolacious shrubs, and tenanted only by sea-birds,
owls, finches, rats, and turtles. Of the last we succeeded in
turning three, the average weight of each being 360 lb., and we
took large numbers of their eggs.

We then went to Mozambique, and visited the Portuguese Governor,
John Travers de Almeida, who showed considerable interest in the
prospects of the expedition, and regretted that, as it cost so
much money to visit the interior from that place, his officers
were unable to go there. One experimental trip only had been
accomplished by Mr Soares, who was forced to pay the Makua chiefs
120 dollars footing, to reach a small hill in view of the sea,