CROSSING THE LESUNGUE. 257 



conversation by thanking him for his present ; his re- 

 ply to me was, " Very good, well, now, you must go 

 and catch lierT I asked him, with feigned astonish- 

 ment, what he meant by " catching her." " Oh !" said 

 he, " take two of your men and a rope, catch her and 

 tie her as the Portuguese do, and take her away." 



Pretending to be much offended with this style of 

 present, I told him I did not understand him ; first he 

 offered of his own accord to give me a present, and 

 then he had the impertinence to tell me to go and get 

 it myself "When," said I, "I gave ^^ou calico and 

 beads, did 3^ou not receive them from my own hands ? 

 I shall receive a present in no other way from you." 



" Oh !" said he, " if any of us go to catch her, she 

 will run away into the jungle, and all her people will 

 run away, besides lots of others, for fear I should sell 

 them; but if you go and do it, they won't blame me !" 



Telling him I was much insulted, I returned to the 

 tree, where everything was ready to start, and marched 

 out of the village without further delay. 



We were soon by the side of the Lesungue, which 

 my new guides said we had better cross, and while 

 the men were carrying the luggage and trophies across 

 I sat on the bank smoking a pipe. When almost the 

 last of the loads was safely placed on the other side, 

 cries of some one in distress reached my ears, and on 

 looking round I was not a little surprised, as well as 

 highly amused, to see old Marimba leading the girl 

 down to me — her hands bound behind her back 

 with a bark-rope, while another was attached to her 

 left arm, by which the chief led her. Seeing them 

 coming I called Chinsoro over from the other side of 



s 



