258 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN. COUNTRIES. 
In the morning not a native was to be seen, so I deter- 
mined to go to their villages to try to hurry them up, as I 
was afraid of fevers if we waited about these marshes. 
Taking twenty-nine men with me, I started at two 
o'clock on my visit to the chiefs, with the intention of 
telling them that whatever they were going to do for us 
they must do quickly, or else we would march on. As we 
approached the villages, however, we were not met peace- 
fully. Two of the villages were very near together, and 
surrounded by tall stockades, and from the gates of these 
thronged hundreds of warriors adorned with war paint and 
feathers. 
We quickly formed a square under a large sycamore- 
tree, calling loudly all the time that we wished peace. 
The natives completely encircled us, coming nearer and 
nearer every second. Already within easy shooting dis- 
tance with their bows and arrows, they were levelling their 
weapons at us. It seemed beyond the realms of possibil- 
ity that we could avert a fight. Every instant each one of 
us felt that he would be riddled with poisoned arrows; but 
all the time there were a few old men rushing about from 
warrior to warrior and holding them back just as they were 
on the point of shooting. Many a young wife came out, 
too, and implored her husband not to fight. At last many 
of the warriors became calmed down, and came over with 
the old men to have a conference with us. The shauri 
was long and exciting. 
In order to appear friendly, I had to sit with my inter- 
preter very close to the large body of natives, — all of them 
well armed with spears, as well as bows and arrows. Many 
times the younger warriors would point at me insultingly 
and then threaten to shoot, so that my position was uncom- 
fortable in the extreme. The result of the conference 
came to this: The natives promised to provide me with 
