108 ACROSS AFRICA. [Chap. 



August, in the form of a long U, with holes to use spears and arrows 

 ■^^'^^- through, so that it would be dangerous for an enemy to attempt 

 to force the gate. There were some other door -ways in the 

 outer walls of the houses, forming part of the enceinte, which 

 closed in a sort of portcullis fashion. A number of heavy logs 

 had holes in their upper ends, and the wall -plate was rove 

 through them. When the door -way is open, these logs are 

 triced up, inward, out of the way ; when closed, the outer sides 

 of the lower ends butt against a strong fixed log, and are se- 

 cured ])y a movable log inside. 



'•' The chief was the best-dressed man I had seen among: the 



CI 



natives. He wore a handsome double Indian deole and a Mus- 

 cat soliari, masses of sambo on his legs, heavy bangle and wire, 

 and ivory bracelets on his arms, and a necklace of elephant's 

 hair neatly bound round with wire, from which hung an orna- 

 ment made out of the bottom of a shell brought from the coast, 

 and ground down till quite white and smooth, called a kiongwa. 

 He was apparently lighter in color than most of his subjects. 



" The people kept a large number of pigeons, and a few 

 fowls and sheep. Provisions about the average price, i. e., ten 

 kibabah to a shukkah. "We had visitors in our tents all day, 

 and at night found that they had left evidences of their pres- 

 ence behind them." 



On the 1st of August we left our friends at Urguru, and 

 made a long march through a forest with great quantities of 

 game, and reached Simbo. During this march. Murphy saw a 

 giraffe, but seemed so occupied with staring at it that he forgot 

 to use his rifle until the animal was out of range. 



Passing through an open grassy strip, Dillon and I went aft- 

 er some buffalo ; but they winded the caravan, and were off be- 

 fore we could get within range. We then came to more forest, 

 and each took one side of the road, and saw many antelopes. 

 I shot one, but was disappointed of my prize, through being un- 

 able to extricate it from a tangled mass of thorns into M'liich it 

 had run to die. Partridges and jungle fowl were plentiful, and 

 in one place I flushed a flock of guinea-fowl that quite dark- 

 ened the sky, but, unfortunately, I was only provided with shell 

 and ball cartridge. 



During this solitary ramble, when in some jungle of thick 



