154 FROM OLEXDA TO JIAYOLO. Chap. YIII. 



At length voices were lieard in the valley on the 

 Otando side, then the report of a gun, and up 

 bounded the long line of Otando men, headed by 

 Rapelinn, to the rescue, laden with provisions, and 

 merry as crickets. Mayolo had sent for my own 

 use a stock of Mpegui nuts, two fowls, and plenty 

 of plantains. The arrival was most welcome, for we 

 were again helpless with hunger. We had been 

 again without food all day, and it was now evening. 



Mpegui nuts are the product of a large tree wjiich 

 grows abundantly in some parts of the forest, but is 

 nowhere planted by the natives. The nut is quite 

 different in form from the Koola nut already de- 

 scribed. It is round, but the kernel is three-lobed 

 and full of oil. The oily nature of the nuts enables 

 the natives to manufacture them into excellent cakes, 

 by pounding them in a wooden mortar, and enclosing 

 the pulp in folded leaves, and then subjecting it to 

 the action of smoke on a stage over a wood fire. 

 They eat it generally with meat as we do bread, but 

 when animal food is scarce it forms a good reserve, 

 and is very palatable, seasoned with a little &alt and 

 pepper. 



After a good night's rest — the first that I had 

 had for a long time — we arose refreshed in the 

 morninir, and the horns of the Otando men at sun- 

 rise blew the signal for our departure. There had 

 been again heavy rain in the night, and the rain- 

 drops on the leaves of the forest trees glittered in the 

 early sunlight. A thin mist hung over the deep 

 valley before us, and in the coolness of the early 

 hour we marched off at great speed, determined 



