onger exposed to
its rays. We as before beat the bushes in the neighbourhood to
ascertain that no animal lurked among them, and then lighted a fire to
cook our dinner. As may be supposed, the birds that had been killed on
the previous morning were no longer fit for English palates; but our
black friends, without ceremony, consumed them. We had therefore to
wait until we had killed some fresh game.

Stanley, Senhor Silva, Timbo, and I took up our guns to proceed inland.
The scenery on the banks was very beautiful, the trees not growing in
dense masses, but scattered in groups, like those in a gentleman's park
in England. Beautiful flowers covered the open spaces. Among some of
the groups of trees we observed the orchilla weed hanging from the
branches. This is one of the exports of Africa, and is used as a dye
stuff. There was a beautiful little shrub which Chickango called the
_mullah_. It bore a yellow fruit. He gathered several--which he said
were good to eat--and we found them full of seeds, like a custard-apple,
with a sweet taste. A larger tree was covered with white blossoms,
their fragrance reminding me of the hawthorn at home; but the flowers of
these were as large as dog-roses and the fruit the size of big marbles.
Chickango pointed to the flowers; not so much to admire them, as because
numerous bees were sucking their sweets. "Dere! dere!"--and he pointed
out several hollows in the neighbouring trees. "Me come back, and get
for eat," he said. From another shrub--which our companion called the
_mogametsa_--he picked a quantity of fruit, which had the appearance of
a bean with pulp round it.

"Why," cried Leo, as he tasted the _mogametsa_, "it is just like
sponge-cake--capital stuff! We must take a quantity to the camp."

Another very nice fruit was the _maioa_, which grew abundantly on low
bushes. Indeed, we found a number of edible bulbs and bushes. Among
them I must not forget to mention the _mamosho_ and _milo_. The latter
is a sort of medlar, which all hands pronounced delicious. Indeed,
there was no fear of our starving in this region. There were great
numbers of birds also; but I will describe them by-and-by.

Troops of animals passed us, among which the giraffe was conspicuous.
We were just emerging from the wood, when we saw a single giraffe
following a large herd at a distance, having from some cause been
separated from his companions. On he went, swinging his tall head from
sid