of wearing arms is
probably only a substitute for the courage they do not possess. We
always deposited our fire-arms and spears outside a village before
entering it, while the Balonda, on visiting us at our encampment, always
came fully armed, until we ordered them either to lay down their weapons
or be off. Next day we passed through a piece of forest so dense that no
one could have penetrated it without an axe. It was flooded, not by
the river, but by the heavy rains which poured down every day, and kept
those who had clothing constantly wet. I observed, in this piece of
forest, a very strong smell of sulphureted hydrogen. This I had
observed repeatedly in other parts before. I had attacks of fever of the
intermittent type again and again, in consequence of repeated drenchings
in these unhealthy spots.

On the 11th and 12th we were detained by incessant rains, and so heavy
I never saw the like in the south. I had a little tapioca and a small
quantity of Libonta meal, which I still reserved for worse times. The
patience of my men under hunger was admirable; the actual want of the
present is never so painful as the thought of getting nothing in the
future. We thought the people of some large hamlets very niggardly and
very independent of their chiefs, for they gave us and Manenko nothing,
though they had large fields of maize in an eatable state around them.
When she went and kindly begged some for me, they gave her five ears
only. They were subjects of her uncle; and, had they been Makololo,
would have been lavish in their gifts to the niece of their chief. I
suspected that they were dependents of some of Shinte's principal men,
and had no power to part with the maize of their masters.

Each house of these hamlets has a palisade of thick stakes around it,
and the door is made to resemble the rest of the stockade; the door is
never seen open; when the owner wishes to enter, he removes a stake or
two, squeezes his body in, then plants them again in their places, so
that an enemy coming in the night would find it difficult to discover
the entrance. These palisades seem to indicate a sense of insecurity
in regard to their fellow-men, for there are no wild beasts to disturb
them; the bows and arrows have been nearly as efficacious in clearing
the country here as guns have in the country farther south. This was a
disappointment to us, for we expected a continuance of the abundance of
game in the north which we found when we