the night; he accompanies it with an extempore song, in
which he rehearses their deeds ever since they left their own
country. At times animated political discussions spring, up,
and the amount of eloquence expended on these occasions
is' amazing. The whole camp Is aroused, and the men shout
to one another from the different fires; whilst some, whose
tongues are never heard on any other subject, now burst
forth into impassioned speech. The misgovemment of Chiefs
furnishes an inexhaustible theme. “ We could govern ourselves
better,” they cry, “ so what is the use of Chiefs at all?
they do not work. The Chief is fat, and has plenty of wives;
whilst we, who do the hard work, have- hunger, only one wife,
or more likely none; now this must be bad, unjust, and
wrong.” All shout to this a loud “ ehe,” equivalent to our
“ hear, hear.” Next the headman, Kanyata, and Tuba with
his loud voice, are heard taking up the subject on the loyal
side. “ The Chief is the father of the people; can there be
people without a father, eh? God made the Chief. Who says
that the Chief is not wise ? He is wise; but his children are
fools.” Tuba goes on generally till he has silenced all opposition
; and if his arguments are not always sound, his voice
is the loudest, and he is sure to have the last word.
As a specimen of our mode of marching, we rise about
five, or as soon as dawn appears, take a cup of tea-and a
bit of biscuit; the servants fold up the blankets and stow
them away in the bags they carry; the others tie them
fumbas and cooking-pots to each end of their carrying-sticks,
which are borne on the shoulder ; the cook secures the
dishes, and all are on the path by sunrise. If a convenient
spot can be found we halt for breakfast about nine
a.m . To save time, this meal is generally cooked the night
before, and has only to be warmed. We continue the ,march
after breakfast, rest a little in the middle of the day, and
break off early in the aftemooh. We average from two to
two-and-a-half miles an hour in a straight line, or, as the crow
flies, and seldom have more than five or six hours a day of
actual travel. This in a hot climate is as much as a man can
accomplish without being oppressed; and we always tried to
make our progress more a pleasure than a toil. To hurry over
the ground, abuse, and look ferocious at one’s native companions,
merely for the foolish vanity of boasting how quickly
a distance was accomplished, is a combination of silliness
with absurdity quite odious; while kindly consideration for
the feelings of even blacks, the pleasure of observing scenery
and everything new as one moves on at an ordinary pace,
and the participation in the most delicious rest with our
fellows, render travelling delightful. Though not given to
over haste, we were a little surprised to find that we could
tire our men out; and even the headman, who carried but
little more than we did, and never, as we often had to do,
hunted in the afternoon, was no better than his comrades.
Our experience tends to prove that the European constitution
has a power of endurance, even in the tropics, greater than
that of the hardiest of the meat-eating Africans.
After pitching our camp, one or two of us usually go off to
hunt, more as a matter .of necessity than of pleasure, for the
men, as well as ourselves, must have meat. We prefer to take
a man with us to carry home the game, or lead the others to
where it lies; but as they frequently grumble and complain
of being tired, we do not particularly object to going, alone*
except that it involves the extra labour of our making
a second trip to show the men where the animal that has
been shot is to be found. When it is a couple of miles off
it is rather fatiguing to have to go twice; more especially
N 2