far from the refractory brothers. But this view was only
for the moment; again we dived into the grasses and
forced our way along. Presently elephants were seen,
also buffalo; and the guide, to make the journey propitious,
plucked a twig, denuded it of its leaves and branches,
waved it like a wand up the line of march, muttered some
unintelligible words to himself, broke it in twain, and
threw the separated hits on either side of the path.
Immediately after starting, the guide ran up on an
To 5th camp, ant-hill and pointed out to us all the glories
of the country round. In our rear we could
see back upon Wird and the hill of Kisüga ; to the west
were the same low plains of grass; east and by south, the
jungles of Kidi; and to the northward, over downs of
grass, the tops of some hills, which marked the neighbouring
village of Koki, which we were making for. Its
appearance in the distance warned us that we were closing
on the habitations of men, and we were told that Bombay
had drunk pombd there. Then plunging through grass
again over our heads, and crossing constant swamps, we
arrived at a stream which drains all these lands to westward,
and rested a while that the men might bathe, and
also that they might set fire to the grass as a telegraph to
the settlement of Koki, to apprise the people of our advance,
and be ready with their pombd ere our arrival.
Shortly after, towards the close of the day’s work, as a
solitary buffalo was seen grazing by a brook, I put a bullet
through him, ? and allowed the savages the pleasure of
despatching him in their own wild fashion with spears.
It was a sight quite worthy of a little delay. No sooner
was it observed that the huge beast could not retire, than,
with springing bounds, the men, all spear in hand, as if
advancing on an enemy, went top speed at him, over rise
and fall alike, till, as they neared the maddened bull, he
instinctively advanced to meet his assailants with the best
charge his exhausted body could muster up. Wind, however,
failed him soon ; he knew his disadvantage, and
tried to hide by plunging in the water,—the worst policy
he could have pursued, for the men from the hank above
him soon covered him with bristling spears, and gained
their victory. Now, what was to be done with this huge
carcass ? No one could be induced to leave it. A cow
was offered as a bribe on reaching camp ; hut no, the
buffalo was bigger than a cow, and must be quartered
on the spot ; so, to gain our object, we went ahead and
left the,.rear men to follow, thus saving a cow in rations,
for we required to slaughter one every day.
By dint of hard perseverance we accomplished ten miles
To 6th Camp, over fbe same downs of tall grass with occa-
mh- sional swamps. We saw a herd of hartebeest,
and reached at night a place within easy run of Koki in
Grani.
The weather had now become fine. At length we
To Koki in Gani, reached the habitations of men— a collection
wa.. 0f conical huts on the ridge of a small chain
of granitic hills lying north-west. As we approached
the southern extremity of this chain, knots of naked
men, perched like monkeys on the granite blocks, were
anxiously watching our arrival. The guides, following the
usages of the country, instead of allowing us to mount
the hill and look out for accommodation at once, desired
us to halt, and sent on a messenger to inform Chongi,
the governor-general, that we were visitors from Kam-
rasi, who desired he would take care of us and forward us
to our brothers. This Mercury brought forth a hearty
welcome ; for Chongi had been appointed governor by
Kamrasi of this district, which appears to have been the
extreme northern limit of the originally vast kingdom of
Kittara. All the élite of the place, covered with warpaints,
and dressed, so far as their nakedness was covered
at all, like clowns in a fair, charged down the hill full tilt
with their spears, and, after performing their customary