Men- also wear them for love philtres, and hence their
reluctance to part with them.
During this day’s march we passed by a pond dug
in a hollow which was in process of drying up. These
holes are dug by .the natives in the dry season with
the object of catching fish when the swamps dry up ;
also for fishing they make use of a thing very like
our lobster-pot, which they tie to a fence across a
rapid portion of the stream. The love the natives
have for salt throughout this saltless country is very
marked; for sugar and lollipops, which we offered
them, they have a positive aversion; anything of a
savoury nature pleases them immensely, and their
gestures of delight over the scrapings of tins of anchovy
paste were most pleasing to contemplate. Mice,
locusts, and caterpillars are their daintiest viands, and
if given a lump of salt they will put it straightway
into their mouths and consume it with the
greatest complacency.
We halted that night at the village of Tandoro,
still in Kunzi’s country, with a solitary rock in its
midst, divided into two parts by a narrow split forming
a gully which is bridged over by trees, so that
they can retire to the highest point when the Mata-
bele come, and wait there till the impi has departed
with their cattle and grain.
I learnt here a little more concerning the mysteries
of hand-clapping and greetings. One of our bearers
from Kunzi’s kraal, Girandali by name, had relatives
here, and I followed him to their hut, the inmates of
which were seated solemnly on the floor and began
to clap, whereupon Girandali commenced to relate
parenthetically the events of his career since they
last met; between each parenthesis the host clapped
and said his name. This went on for fully ten
minutes, each parenthesis 'being received with more
or less clapping, as it attracted the attention of his
hearers. When Girandali had done, there was
a general clapping" which lasted for some time,
B R A C E L E T S
and then the formal part of the conversation was
over.
The chief of a neighbouring village, Bochiko by
name, here paid us a visit. He is a most curious specimen
of his race, a veritable pigmy only four feet four
inches in height. He has lost all his toes in battle and
has had one leg broken and never se t; he wore a large
brass ring with curious patterns on it on his tiny
fingers, and brass bracelets on his tiny arms, both of
T