388 



ACEOSS AFKICA. 



[Chap. 



September, world, though, to judge from the sensational and untrue stories 

 1875. Qf dangers on the road so frequently circulated, there was evi- 

 dently a demand for news of some sort. 



The following day we crossed the Kwanza, and were then 

 only one march from Alvez's settlement. It was, therefore, 

 plain that the accounts given of lighting on the road were ut- 

 terly unfounded. 



These stories as they traveled from mouth to mouth had been 

 greatly magnified, and it was said that no fewer than six thou- 

 sand men, on their way to Bihe from the coast, had been driven 

 back after four days' hard fighting. One leader of a caravan 

 was reported to have lost all his stores and about two hundred 

 men in the struggle. 



This and similar canards had been recounted to me with 

 every detail, the narrators evidently being blessed with the 

 most fertile imaginations, and it was impossible to arrive at any 

 certainty as to their truth or otherwise. I need hardly remark 

 that they were fully believed by my people, who had become 

 very gloomy at the prospect of a lengthened delay at Bihe. 

 But now they were proportionately rejoiced, and all were in 

 excellent sjjirits. 



BIIAM DEVILI 



