300 FEOM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 



At four p.m. we reached another Ashango village, 

 I was unwilling to accept the hospitality of this place 

 owing to the noise and annoyance caused by the vil- 

 lagers, in iact I felt that my head would not stand it, 

 and so fixed my camp at a short distance from it ; 

 erecting as usual slight sheds of poles thatched with 

 leaves. 



June 2bth. The altitude of my encampment was 

 1480 feet above the sea-level. The thermometer at 

 six a.m. marked 72° Fahr., and at noon only 73°. lu 

 the early morning a thick mist lay over the magnifi- 

 cent woodlands, and half hid the village and sur- 

 rounding palm-trees from our view. Ahead of us 

 were hills that rose much higher than our present 

 position ; we were now at length in the heart of the 

 mountainous country in the interior of Africa. 



It is very curious that one side of the stre-et of 

 this village is peopled by the Ashango, and the other 

 side by the Njavi tribe. This was the only opportu- 

 nity I had of seeing people of the Njavi tribe ; it 

 appeared that they had been driven westward to this 

 place by the enmity of a powerful tribe, of whom I 

 shall have to speak further on — the Ashangui — 

 whose country lies near theirs on the east ; for the 

 territory occupied by the Njavi lies between Ashango- 

 land and the country of the Ashangui. These Njavi 

 were the shyest and most tir^id negroes I had ever 

 met with. They would never allow me to enter 

 their houses, and were filled with fear when I merely 

 looked at tliem. 



The streets of all the Ashango villages I have yet 

 seen are less broad than those of the Ishogo villages. 



