belongings in the canoes, and
on a certain day they left their village and ascended their broad river,
the Lira. Day after day they paddled up the stream, and we heard of
them from the Bafanya as they passed by their country, and the Bafanya
heard of them for a long distance up--from the next tribe--the Bamoru--
and the Bamoru heard about them arriving near the Mountain Land beyond.

Not until a long time afterwards did we hear what became of Masama and
his people.

It was said that the Balira, when the river had become shallow and
small, left their canoes and travelled by land among little hills, and
after winding in and out amongst them they came to the foot of the tall
mountain which stands like a grandsire amongst the smaller mountains.
Up the sides of the big mountain they straggled, the stronger and more
active of them ahead, and as the days passed, they saw that the world
was cold and dark until the sun showed himself over the edge of the big
mountain, when the day became more agreeable, for the heat pierced into
their very marrows, and made their hearts rejoice. The greater the heat
became, the more certain were they that they were drawing near the home
of the sun. And so they pressed on and on, day after day, winding along
one side of the mountain, and then turning to wind again still higher.
Each day, as they advanced towards the top, the heat became greater and
greater. Between them and the sun there was now not the smallest shrub
or leaf, and it became so fiercely hot that finally not a drop of sweat
was left in their bodies. One day, when not a cloud was in the sky, and
the world was all below them--far down like a great buffalo hide--the
sun came out over the rim of the mountain like a ball of fire, and the
nearest of them to the top were dried like a leaf over a flame, and
those who were behind were amazed at its burning force, and felt, as he
sailed over their heads, that it was too late for them to escape. Their
skins began to shrivel up and crackle, and fall off, and none of those
who were high up on the mountain side were left alive. But a few of
those who were nearest the bottom, and the forest belts, managed to take
shelter, and remaining there until night, they took advantage of the
darkness, when the sun sleeps, to fly from the home of the sun. Except
a few poor old people and toddling children, there was none left of the
once populous tribe of the Balira.

That is my story. We who liv