presented to us by Mr. Schut, which I had kept milked until it gave only
a teaspoonful at a time. My men enjoyed a hearty laugh when they found
that I had given up all hope of more, for they had been talking among
themselves about my perseverance. We offered a leg of the cow to Bango,
but he informed us that neither he nor his people ever partook of beef,
as they looked upon cattle as human, and living at home like men. None
of his people purchased any of the meat, which was always eagerly done
every where else. There are several other tribes who refuse to keep
cattle, though not to eat them when offered by others, because, say
they, oxen bring enemies and war; but this is the first instance I have
met with in which they have been refused as food. The fact of killing
the pallahs for food shows that the objection does not extend to meat in
general.

The little streams in this part of the country did not flow in deep
dells, nor were we troubled with the gigantic grasses which annoyed our
eyes on the slopes of the streams before we came to Cabango. The country
was quite flat, and the people cultivated manioc very extensively. There
is no large collection of the inhabitants in any one spot. The ambition
of each seems to be to have his own little village; and we see many
coming from distant parts with the flesh of buffaloes and antelopes as
the tribute claimed by Bango. We have now entered again the country of
the game, but they are so exceedingly shy that we have not yet seen a
single animal. The arrangement into many villages pleases the Africans
vastly, for every one who has a few huts under him feels himself in
some measure to be a chief. The country at this time is covered with
yellowish grass quite dry. Some of the bushes and trees are green;
others are shedding their leaves, the young buds pushing off the old
foliage. Trees, which in the south stand bare during the winter months,
have here but a short period of leaflessness. Occasionally, however, a
cold north wind comes up even as far as Cabango, and spreads a wintry
aspect on all the exposed vegetation. The tender shoots of the evergreen
trees on the south side become as if scorched; the leaves of manioc,
pumpkins, and other tender plants are killed; while the same kinds, in
spots sheltered by forests, continue green through the whole year. All
the interior of South Africa has a distinct winter of cold, varying in
intensity with the latitudes. In the central parts