IV.] EEHENNEKO. 59 



We halted close to a village called Mkonibenga, and Dillon April, 

 became very ill with fever, his first attack, which was doubtless ^^'^^- 

 brought on by remaining so long in the water on our crossing 

 the Makata Eiver ; and my right foot and ankle were so swollen 

 and painful that I was perfectly unable to move. 



Neither of us was better for a day's rest ; but we thought it 

 advisable to endeavor to reach Eehenneko, the descriptions we 

 had heard of it leading us to believe that it was very healthy. 



It was distant one long march, but we decided on proceed- 

 ing by easy stages. I w^as suffering such pain that I could nei- 

 ther walk nor ride, but was carried in a hammock, while Dillon 

 managed to get along on his staid old donkey, named " Philos- 

 opher" on account of the equanimity with which he endured 

 the vicissitudes of travel. We rested at a small hamlet belong- 

 ing to a chief named Kombehina ; but the next morning Dil- 

 lon was too ill to mount his donkey. Having only one ham- 

 mock, we decided that Dillon should remain here and nurse 

 himself, while I pushed on to Eehenneko, which was reported 

 as being near at hand, sending the hammock back for Dillon as 

 soon as I arrived there. Several large villages were passed on 

 the way, and the country was very thickly cultivated, excepting 

 in places where it was too marshy, or flooded, such as we met 

 with on two occasions. Each of these flooded tracts was three- 

 quarters of a mile across, with water varying from one to three 

 feet in depth. 



When I arrived at Eehenneko, I located myself comfortably 

 under the veranda of the chief's hut, and immediately sent the 

 hammock for Dillon. >— 



Eehenneko proved to be a large and populous village, and I 

 was soon surrounded by a wondering crowd, the people being 

 all well-dressed, after the fashion of the slaves at Zanzibar. 

 They wore also a very peculiar necklace, consisting of a disk of 

 coiled brass wire projecting horizontally from the neck, and 

 sometimes as much as two feet in diameter, having an effect 

 which forcibly reminded me of a painting of John the Baptist's 

 head in a charger. . 



These curious and uncomfortable ornaments I only saw in 

 Eehenneko, but I heard that they were worn throughout the 

 surrounding; district. 



