with them. As to journeying through his country, I could'
proceed, and he would give me boys to take me to Kunyun-
gwi (Tette).
The last promise gave me marked satisfaction. That, I
thought, would be a stage farther. The goods still in
hand would just he sufficient to buy food, and perhaps
allow a present to be made to some of the chiefs. There
was not enough left to make payments in full to more than
one lot of carriers, and this would have to he done in
advance before leaving the spot where we were.
. As on other occasions, I went through various rifle performances,
which highly delighted the chief, whose admiration
was greatly excited by the ingenious construction of
“the weapons. When he saw the elephant-rifle, he was fairly
amazed. I did not show him the white man’s gods in the
shape of watch, and so forth ; but during the afternoon
entertainment, a great novelty was produced—never before
exhibited by the company—with immense success.
The novelty was a looking-glass. The astonishment and
amusement it afforded were unbounded. Now and then
one of the crowd might be found who did not seem to think
that the reflection of his physiognomy was altogether
flattering ; and the glass would therefore be quickly handed
on to others. Some would vainly try to get ahead of the
reflection, by making wild and rapidly changing contortions
of the face, only to be sadly put out by the discovery
that there was no motion swift enough to defeat the glass.
The chief had a good look at his mirrored face, and
smiled as though he were tolerably well satisfied.
Handing the glass to some of the petrified parties
who were sitting around, and who might, judging from
appearances, have been dug out of the strata of some deep
geological epoch, they examined their fearful and wonderful
countenances in a very scrutinising fashion, clearly bent
upon discovering some deception. After a careful examination
some of them seemed quite frightened at their ugliness,
which evidently had never before been brought so forcibly
under their notice.
Chibabura suggested that I might shoot some meat,
so that the boys whom he would send with me might be
able to leave some for their wives and families.
The chief was rather tall and slender in figure. In
colour he was a shade lighter than his confreres, and had an
expression that might almost be called meek. The lips
were very thick, and the white of the eye—as is characteristic
of the negro—was blurred with streaky shades of
deep brown.
John had been out hunting, and it was long after sunset
when he returned. He had shot an eland cow, but reported
game to be very scarce.
At this period the household were nearly all sick.
Dysentery had set in. So I physicked the whole crowd
all in order—giving to the shamming ones a mighty dose
of the ever-fateful podophyllin powder.
Sandani now divulged the intelligence that he could not
leave to go on with the white man “ much as he loved him,”
and so forth. The old fellow had certainly talked with us
to such an extent that he had almost wholly lost the use of
his voice. His presence had enabled us to reach a turning
point in the fortunes of the expedition, and I really felt
very grateful to the old man. As to the question of his not
coming with us, the decision was not to be wondered at. Old
Sandani had far too much to attend to, even in relation to
his domestic affairs. What with his numerous family, and
a wife or two at every rock about the country, his hands
were pretty fu ll; especially as he was always endeavouring