atives "selali", and is believed to be the maker of a hinged cover
for its nest. You see a door, about the size of a shilling, lying beside
a deep hole of nearly similar diameter. The inside of the door lying
upward, and which attracts your notice, is of a pure white silky
substance, like paper. The outer side is coated over with earth,
precisely like that in which the hole is made. If you try to lift it,
you find it is fastened by a hinge on one side, and, if it is turned
over upon the hole, it fits it exactly, and the earthy side being then
uppermost, it is quite impossible to detect the situation of the nest.
Unfortunately, this cavity for breeding is never seen except when the
owner is out, and has left the door open behind her.

In some parts of the country there are great numbers of a large,
beautiful yellow-spotted spider, the webs of which are about a yard in
diameter. The lines on which these webs are spun are suspended from one
tree to another, and are as thick as coarse thread. The fibres radiate
from a central point, where the insect waits for its prey. The webs are
placed perpendicularly, and a common occurrence in walking is to get the
face enveloped in them as a lady is in a veil.

Another kind of spider lives in society, and forms so great a collection
of webs placed at every angle, that the trunk of a tree surrounded by
them can not be seen. A piece of hedge is often so hidden by this spider
that the branches are invisible. Another is seen on the inside of the
walls of huts among the Makololo in great abundance. It is round in
shape, spotted, brown in color, and the body half an inch in diameter;
the spread of the legs is an inch and a half. It makes a smooth spot
for itself on the wall, covered with the above-mentioned white silky
substance. There it is seen standing the whole day, and I never could
ascertain how it fed. It has no web, but a carpet, and is a harmless,
though an ugly neighbor.

Immediately beyond Dilolo there is a large flat about twenty miles in
breadth. Here Shakatwala insisted on our remaining to get supplies of
food from Katema's subjects, before entering the uninhabited watery
plains. When asked the meaning of the name Dilolo, Shakatwala gave the
following account of the formation of the lake. A female chief, called
Moene (lord) Monenga, came one evening to the village of Mosogo, a man
who lived in the vicinity, but who had gone to hunt with his dogs. She
asked for a supply of fo