to have ruled. We climbed amongst the huts before
sundown and came across an old hag busily engaged
m shaving the heads of her younger sisters, cutting
their woolly locks into all sorts of odd shapes as
fancy or fashion suggested. She refused our most
tempting offers, to part with her razor, and it was not
till some time afterwards that we were able to obtain
a specimen of this Makalanga ironcraft.
ROCK N EA R MAK ORI PO S T STA T IO N
Next day we crossed two rivers, tributaries of the
Tokwe, and after a prosperous ride of ten miles
reached Sindito’s kraal, called Sekatu, the inhabitants
of which took us for a Matabele impi, and would
not/come down till Mashah had screamed to them;
that' we were no rogues, but honest men. We gave
the chief a cup of tea, which he detested, and as soon
as politeness permitted he said he had had enough.
He returned the compliment by giving us a calabash
of good beer, which we drank with pleasure.
• Sekatu was rather a nice village, on a hill covered
with thick jungle, amongst which grew in profusion
cucumbers,* about six inches long, of a rich orange
colour, with thorns outside
and with a delicious
bright green pulp inside.
They are the Cucumis
metuliferus, specimens of
which may be seen in the
museum at Kew Gardens.
We had seen these before,
and looked upon them
as poisonous, until our
natives partook of them
and gave us confidence.
Ever afterwards, as long
as they were in season, we
indulged freely in this delicious
fruit, and voted
it the best we had come
across in Mashonaland.
The next day we
halted for half an hour at K N IT T E D BAG
a village called Imiridzi,
where we acquired a bag of bark fibre, made by
knitting the twine with two sticks for knitting-
needles. These articles seemed very popular in this
village, and nearly everyone was engaged in their
production. Midday found us at a very large kraal,