You must be ready to change your route and plans from
one hour to the other. African travelling is a constant
struggle against the elements, man, and animals; you are
the slave of these three greatest factors, of life in savage
parts.” I .
These remarks, written at the time, show the frame
of mind I was in. Whether it is a failing or not, I have
always made it a rule throughout my life to try and make
the best of the present circumstances, letting the future
take care of itself. Forward ” has been my motto, and
the result has been pretty satisfactory, after all up to
the present.
At the end of a few days, permission to cross the river
came from the chief of Shesheke—a gentleman afflicted
with the harmonious name of Nwiangnia Nwongio and I
therefore shifted all my worldly possessions to the northern
bank of the Zambezi. My servant Joseph was, however,
so ill that I had to leave him in charge of the hunter.
When I reached Kazungola, I found the mission station a
few hundred yards from the river; it consists of a well-
built house with two wings. Mr. and Mrs. Jalla bade me
welcome, and asked me to share their lunch. The meal
over the first real meal I had sat down to for nearly three.
months—Mr. Jalla asked me where I was going to put up.
The question seemed, to say the least, peculiar, considering
that there was no other house there but his own ; and it
was hard to think that 1 should not be even offered the
shelter of a roof, and that a countryman of mine, knowing
all the hardships I had gone through, being aware that I
was alone, ignorant of the language, without even a
servant, should deny me the hospitality of his roof in the
heart of Africa. But the situation was such a serious one
for me that, putting all feelings of pride aside, I begged
him to put me up. He replied that this was impossible, as
he was expecting an English missionary. I did not insist,
but left to look about and find what I could do. I soon
discovered an old tumbled-down house,-consisting of two
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rooms, that had been erected by the first missionaries who
settled down there. It was now used as a stable for goats,
and I determined to take up my quarters in .it. I returned
to see Mr. Jalla, and at first he made some objection; but
I declared that I would make my quarters there, and I
proceeded to do so. I had secured the services of a boy of
twelve, and, Mr. Jalla having been induced to lend me two
of his men, I set to work to make the place habitable.
I made a bed by sticking four poles in the ground, and
fastening cross sticks and reeds on to them. Over this I
placed a heap of dry grass. After sleeping for so long a
time on the ground this was almost comfortable. With
reeds I made a kind of shelf and a table, and an old box
made a substitute for a chair. I shall never forget the
misery of the days I spent in that place. It was inhabited
by all the pests in creation—vermin, rats, wasps, scorpions,
and snakes. Once while I was writing a puff-adder jumped
from among my papers, and, falling in my lap, slid down
one of my legs ; and another time I woke up with the
sickly sensation of something cold passing over my face.
I jumped out of bed, and soon after discovered a huge puff-
adder between my blankets. Mr. Jalla asked me, it is
true, to partake of lunch at his house, but for breakfast
and dinner I had to share the porridge cooked by my boy.
To add to all this, the roof of the hut was in so dilapidated
a state that the rain used to pour through it in
torrents. Immediately after my arrival I had sent fresh
messengers to the chief of Shesheke to ask for his leave to
go there, and it was with true delight that I hailed the
arrival of canoes sent to fetch my baggage. I decided to
go myself overland, and prepared for an immediate start.