172 MAYOLO. Chap. IX 



a f]o<»'<>'in2: for the beloved wife. She mio-ht have 

 then run away; but any great act of" cruelty does 

 not enter the heads of these mild-tempered people, 

 except as the punishment of witchcraft. 



T(; wards the end of April I was glad to find a 

 decided change for the better in Mayolo's health. 

 Macondai was also much improved, and I now saw 

 some prospect of moving forwards towards the east. 

 Unfortunately my hopes were soon after again cast 

 down, by Mayolo's favourite wife and one of his 

 nephews falling ill of small-pox. Mayolo, who was 

 as anxious as I was to be off before the dry season 

 set in, on account of the plantations he had to make, 

 was now in great trouble. He rose the next day 

 before daylight, and proclaimed aloud in the street 

 of his village, before the people had gone out of 

 their houses, that some one had bewitched the place, 

 and that tlie mhoundou (poison ordeal) must be tried. 

 Notwithstanding the love he seemed to have for his 

 young wife, fear of the disease had the upper hand ; 

 he sent her away to the village of her own people, 

 where the plague was now raging, there to remain 

 till she either died or became well ; the nephew was 

 ordered into the woods, and people sent to build him 

 an olako, or shed ; his own wife, who was to attend 

 on him, was to be prohibited from entering the vil- 

 lage. These were strong sanitary measures. I was 

 racked with anxiety and vexation. This abominable 

 plague seemed to follow me everywhere. I had learnt 

 from Macondai that the chiefs of Ashira Kamba, and 

 especially Mbana and liis wife, who had cooked for 

 us when in the Kamba country, had died of the 



