narrow
and winding, intersect this chaotic mass, swampy withal in parts, and
harbouring reedy water-holes where, beneath the broad leaves and fair
blossoms of radiant lilies, the demon crocodile lurks unsuspected.
Great crater-like hollows, too--only to be entered by a single way, and
that a very staircase of rocks--the whole a vast and forbidding series
of natural fastnesses, which even now have been thoroughly penetrated by
but few whites, and at that time by the conquerors of the country not at
all.

Evening is drawing down upon this rugged wilderness. The sun has gone
off the world, but a rosy afterglow still tinges the piled boulders or
smooth, balanced crags rearing up above the feathery foliage of acacia;
and, save for an odd one here and there, the wheeling birds of prey have
sought their inaccessible roosting-places. But such as have not--for
these an unwonted sight lies beneath. The deathlike solitude of each
winding valley is disturbed by an unwonted life--the life of men.

On they come--dark forms in straggling lines--threescore here, two
there; a dozen further back, even as many as a hundred together. And
they are converging upon one point. This is a hollow, the centre of
which forms an open space--once under cultivation--the sides a perfect
ruin of shattered rocks.

On they come--line upon line of dark savages--advancing mostly in
silence, though now and then the hum of a marching song, as some fresh
group arrives at the place, rises upon the stillness in clear cadence.
None are armed, unless a stick apiece and a small shield can be defined
as weapons; and there is a curiously subdued note pervading the
assembly--an elated look on some of those dark faces, a thoughtful one
on others--but one of expectancy upon all.

Each party as it arrives squats upon the ground awaiting the next. And
still the tread of advancing feet, the hum of approaching voices, and
presently the open space is filled with dark humanity to the number of
several hundreds. During the period of waiting, chiefs, leaving their
own following, greet each other, and draw apart for converse among
themselves. Suddenly, and with startling nearness, there echoes forth
from a crag overhead a loud resonant bark. It is answered by another
and another. A volley of deep-voiced ejaculation, first startled--for
their feelings are wrought up--then mirthful, arises from scores of
throats. A troop of baboons has discovered this human concours