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



liim a .sound scolding. The rest of my Commi 

 companions took the same view of the matter as 

 Macondai. They said they were superior to these 

 Ashangos ; they were not bushmen nor slaves (mean- 

 ing that the Ashangos are sent to the sea-shore to 

 be sold) ; they did not file their teeth nor rub them- 

 selves over with powder ; and more to the same effect. 

 I told them they were all of the same race, and that 

 there was a time when their own tribe, the Commi, 

 sold their fellows into slavery. Of course my men 

 obeyed me, and abstained afterwards from openly 

 showing contempt for the chiefs ; but my arguments 

 did not convince them that the Ashangos had the 

 same natural rights as they had themselves. I often 

 heard them say, " How is it possible that Chaillie can 

 think us to be of the same blood as these slaves ? " 



We had a drizzling rain from half-past six p.m., 

 lasting all night. 



June 28^A. The ground is soaked after so many 

 hours of steady rain, and this is in the middle of 

 the dry season. There is evidently no sharp dis- 

 tinction between the seasons in these high inland 

 regions. 



I was told to-day, and it was repeated to me in 

 every place afterwards, that there is a tribe called 

 Ashangui, very numerous, and clever workers in iron, 

 who live a few days' march further on towards the 

 east, on the banks of a large river. This river must 

 either be the Congo or some unknown stream flowing 

 towards the great river. It is remarkable that the 

 people in most of the Ashango villages were very 

 anxious to get gunpowder from me ; the porters 



