260 THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT. rDec- 29i 1*76.1 L Kasera. J
his right arm back, and his body incline back»
wards, with still that same grin on his face
and I felt myself begin to count, one, two
three, four— and whizz/ The spear flew over
my back, and hissed as it pierced the water.
The spell was broken.
It was only five minutes’ work clearing the
river. We picked up several shields, and I
gave orders that all shields should be henceforth
religiously preserved, for the idea had entered
my head that they would answer capitally as
bulwarks for our Canoes. An hour after this
we passed close to the confluence of the Urindi
— a stream 400 yards in width at the mouth,
and deep with water of a light colour, and
tolerably clear.
We continued down river along the right bank,
and at 4 P.M. camped in a dense low jungle,
the haunt of the hippopotamus and elephant
during the dry season. When the river is in
flood a much larger tract must be under water.
The left bank was between seventy and eighty
feet high; and a point bearing from camp northwest
was about one hundred and fifty feet high.
The traveller’s first duty in lands infested by
lions and leopards, is to build a safe corral,
kraal, or boma, for himself, his oxen, horses,
servants; and in lands infeste'd like Usongora
Meno and Kasera— wherein we now were—by
human lions and leopards, the duty became still
r D e c . 2 9 . l876-l A TRIUMPH OF ELOQUENCE. 261
[ Vina-Kya. J
more imperative. We drew our canoes, therefore,
half-way upon the banks, and our camp
was in the midst of an impenetrable jungle.
On the high bluffs opposite was situated Vina-
Kya. The inhabitants at once manned their
drums and canoes, and advanced towards our
camp. We could not help it. Here we were
camped in a low jungle. How could the most
captious, or the most cruel, of men find any
cause or heart to blame us for resting on this
utterly uninhabitable spot? Yet the savages of
Vina-Kya did. Our interpreters were urged to
be eloquent. And indeed they were, if I may
judge by the gestures, which was the only
language that was comprehensible to me. I was
affected with a strange, envious admiration for
those two young fellows, cannibals it is true,
but endowed, none the less, With a talent for
making even senseless limbs speak—-and they
appeared to have affected the savages of Vina-
Kya also. At any rate, the wild natures relented
for that day; but they promised to decapitate
us early in the morning, for the sake of a horrid
barbecue they intended to hold. We resolved
not to wait for the entertainment.
At dawn we embarked, and descended about
two miles, close to the right bank, when, lo!
the broad mouth of the magnificent Low-wa, or
Rowwa, river burst upon the view. It was
over a thousand yards wide, and its course by