ard of salt-pans about a fortnight west
of Naliele, and I got a small supply from Mpololo while there. That had
long since been finished, and I had again lived two months without salt,
suffering no inconvenience except an occasional longing for animal food
or milk.

In marching along, the rich reddish-brown soil was so clammy that it
was very difficult to walk. It is, however, extremely fertile, and the
people cultivate amazing quantities of corn, maize, millet, ground-nuts,
pumpkins, and cucumbers. We observed that, when plants failed in one
spot, they were in the habit of transplanting them into another, and
they had also grown large numbers of young plants on the islands, where
they are favored by moisture from the river, and were now removing them
to the main land. The fact of their being obliged to do this shows that
there is less rain here than in Londa, for there we observed the grain
in all stages of its growth at the same time.

The people here build their huts in gardens on high stages. This is
necessary on account of danger from the spotted hyaena, which is said
to be very fierce, and also as a protection against lions and elephants.
The hyaena is a very cowardly animal, but frequently approaches persons
lying asleep, and makes an ugly gash on the face. Mozinkwa had lost his
upper lip in this way, and I have heard of men being killed by them;
children, too, are sometimes carried off; for, though he is so cowardly
that the human voice will make him run away at once, yet, when his teeth
are in the flesh, he holds on, and shows amazing power of jaw. Leg-bones
of oxen, from which the natives have extracted the marrow and every
thing eatable, are by this animal crunched up with the greatest ease,
which he apparently effects by turning them round in his teeth till they
are in a suitable position for being split.

We had now come among people who had plenty, and were really very
liberal. My men never returned from a village without some corn or maize
in their hands. The real politeness with which food is given by
nearly all the interior tribes, who have not had much intercourse with
Europeans, makes it a pleasure to accept. Again and again I have heard
an apology made for the smallness of the present, or regret expressed
that they had not received notice of my approach in time to grind more,
and generally they readily accepted our excuse at having nothing to give
in return by saying that they were quite aware that