VIIL] 



THE KIRANGOSI MADE TO PAY. 



101 



pombe if we would remain a little longer ; but we preferred 

 going to our tents, which had been pitched, since it was too late 

 to contemplate going farther. Shortly after we returned to 

 our quarters, this hospitable chief and half a dozen men ap- 

 peared with huge pots of pombe, which they handed to us, after 

 tasting the liquor themselves, to prove that it .was not poisoned. 

 I discovered that the kirangosi who had caused the trouble 

 and delay possessed sufficient cloth to satisfy the demands of 

 the village ; and I therefore ordered him to pay, as he acknowl- 

 edged the debt, though he had attempted to plead poverty to 



July, 

 1873. 



UALTING-PLAOB NEAR A POND. 



avoid paying the amount in full. Upon this decision, the villa- 

 gers gave themselves up to rejoicing, and were drumming, sing- 

 ing, dancing, and drinking until four o'clock in the morning. 



"VVe made a move at seven o'clock, and marched through 

 wooded country, with numerous large outcrops of granite, both 

 in sheets and bowlders, and small rocky hills on the sides of the 

 larger slopes, and arrived at a pretty little pond in convenient 

 time to halt for breakfast and a rest during the noonday heat. 



Butterflies — which I always found in a dry country a sure 

 sign that water was near — were very numerous by this pond, 

 and I noticed at least ten different varieties. 



