XXVII.] 



KAWALA. 



355 



Excepting a little corn, no food was procurable ; but the peo- 

 ple were so delighted with the extraordinary circumstance of a 

 caravan being ready to pay for what was required, that they al- 

 lowed us to buy at most moderate prices. 



From Poporla's wife, who had accompanied her husband to 

 the camp, I managed to obtain half a dozen eggs, which were a 

 great treat. But Poporla was horrified at the idea of a " great 

 man " being reduced to eating eggs, and brought me a basket 

 of beans and a piece of charred meat. It was, I believe, the 

 only flesh they had in the village, and, on close examination, it 

 proved to be the windpipe of some wild animal. With some 



July, 



1875. 



VILLAGE OF KAWALA. 



difficulty I avoided being almost compelled to eat this in the 

 chiefs presence, he was so anxious that I should begin and not 

 mind his being there. But, under the pretense of extreme po- 

 liteness, I escaped the delicious morsel. After he had left, my 

 servant exchanged it with one of Coimbra's people for a head 

 of Indian-corn. 



Alvez arrived the following day, not only having failed to 

 find the runaways, but having lost two or three more slaves. 

 With many lamentations over the hardness of his fate, he came 

 to me, expressing a hope that I should remember him and his 

 losses. This I could, with a clear conscience, promise to do ; 

 for, to my dying day, he will ever be present to my mind as 



