2 26 THROUGH GASA LAND. 



me more favourably with a day's pleasure, than did 

 that journey down the wide and tranquil reaches of 

 this south-east African river. As I stepped ashore 



I heard Sunday exclaim, " there is that d d 



beast again." I turned round to learn the cause of 

 this emphatic exclamation ; an exceedingly large 

 crocodile explained it. My man immediately after- 

 wards added, " That brute means mischief ; he wants 

 some of our people. Give him a bullet, Bass," but 

 before I could do so, the amphibion had sunk 

 beneath the surface, in that undemonstrative way, 

 alike peculiar to its race and the phocidce family. My 

 camp, home as I choose to call it, was in an unusually 

 bustling state, for at least thirty visitors had arrived 

 durino- my absence. They evidently belonged to a 

 superior class from those who had up to this date 

 been my constant attendants, being shorter in height, 

 wore better carosses, and were more liberally decked 

 with ornaments of metal and beads ; moreover they 

 were a much cleanlier people, and from the fine 

 development of their legs, demonstrated that their 

 homes were in a hilly, if not a mountainous country. 

 A more urbane or more pleasant party of aborigines 

 I had not previously encountered. Their counten- 

 ances overflowed with good nature and animation, and 

 while one spoke, he was never interrupted by another, 

 unless I make this exception, that all repeated the 

 last few words of a sentence being delivered by the 

 spokesman. The cause of their visit was to sell 



