XVIII.] AN ENTIRELY NEW COUNTRY. 



245 



giants of the sylvan world were seen springing from its depths; June, 

 and, looking upward, their trunks were lost among their dense 1^74. 

 foliage at an equal height above our heads. ~ 



Magnificent creepers festooned the trees ; and every here and 

 there some dead monarch of the wood was prevented from fall- 

 ing by the clinging embraces of these parasites, which linked 

 him to some of his surviving brothers. 



The ground was damp and cool, and mosses and ferns grew 

 luxuriantly. Still, notwithstanding the coolness of the tem- 

 perature, the lack of circulation of the air caused a deadly op- 

 pressiveness ; and it was with feelings of relief that I again 

 saw blue sky and sunlight streaming between the tree-trunks, 

 as they grew fewer and smaller toward the bottom of the 

 hills. 



Emerging from this truly primeval forest, we entered upon a 

 fair country, with green plains, running streams, wooded knolls, 

 much cultivation, and many villages. The tirst we reached was 

 half an hour\s march from the jungle. And here we seemed 

 to be in an entirely new country ; for though Eohombo may 

 be, conventionally, the commencement of Manyuema, there is 

 no doubt that its proper boundary, both ethnologically and geo- 

 graphically, is the mountain range of Bombarre. 



The huts were ranged in long streets, sometimes parallel, and 

 at others radiating from a large central space ; their bright-red 

 walls and sloping roofs differing from those hitherto met with. 

 And in the middle of the street were palaver huts, palm-trees, 

 and granaries. In their dress the people were different from 

 any I had previously seen. The men wore aprons of dressed 

 deer-skin about eight inches wide, and reaching to their knees. 

 They carried a single heavy spear, 'and a small knife with which 

 to eat their food. 



Chiefs were armed with short two-edged swords with broad- 

 ened, crescent -shaped ends, the scabbards being ornamented 

 with iron and copper bells; and, instead of leather aprons, they 

 wore large kilts of gayly colored grass cloth. 



The heads of the males were generally plastered with clay, 

 so worked in with the hair as to form cones and plates. Oc- 

 casionally long flakes, both flat and round, hung down on the 

 neck, and in these holes were punched for the insertion of iron 



