A BROAD STREAM. 247 



sleeping out with nothing but a tliin bit of gauze to 

 protect me from such midnight marauders. I fancy 

 they have kept up a practice which would have been 

 necessary in the country they had once lived in, and 

 where report says lions are numerous, though I am 

 certain they are few and far between here. 



As Marimba's was said to be a long way we started 

 at dawn. The country traversed was exceedingly bar- 

 ren — the hills covered with light forest were frequent- 

 ly crossed. All the grass had been burned, and no 

 sign of any kind of game was to be seen during the 

 first five hours' walking. Indeed, unless game were to 

 live on stones and ashes, one could scarcely expect to 

 find any in a tract so totally devoid of any kind of 

 herbage. 



About one o'clock, while resting on the top of a hilly 

 ridge, the sound of drums was heard close below us in 

 the forest. My guides jumped up, exclaiming, " Mad- 

 see " (water) knowing well that if there was a native 

 village near, there must also be a stream; and so it was, 

 for on descending the hill I found a broad stream 

 (about sixty yards) running through the bottom of a 

 deep ravine. There was but little water in it now. I 

 knew it could not be the Lesungue, though Moloka 

 would insist that it was ; and my reason for so think- 

 ing was the scantiness of its water in comparison with 

 what the Lesungue had been when crossed on our 



way up. 



Though not a hut was to be seen, the forest here 

 being very thick, voices told that we were close to a 

 village ; and Moloka, with Patanda's two men, was 

 dispatched to report our arrival, and solicit the friend- 



