XXX.] 



TARGET -PRACTICE IN AFRICA. 



395 



intersected by many streams. Tlie villages were surrounded 

 by plantations, tobacco being grown in small inclosed plots 

 close to every lint, and I also noticed a very seedy-looking Eu- 

 ropean cabbage. In the woods I frequently detected a scent 

 like vanilla, but was unable to find the plant that emitted it. 

 Guavas grew wild in great profusion. 



In a clear space outside one of the villages some men were 

 instructing the young idea how to shoot. The target was made 

 of a root found in the jungle, and cut- into circular form, about 

 one foot in diameter. It was rolled slowly across the open 

 space at about forty yards from the marksmen, and on an aver- 

 age one arrow in ten struck it. This was the only occasion on 

 which I saw shooting practiced as an amusement in Africa. 



\ILL\(.f IS unit 



After losing our way three or four times, we arrived at a vil- 

 lage of considerable size, belonging to Senhor Goncalves, and 

 I was lodged in the large hut used by him on his visits. The 

 whole population were his slaves, but the greater number were 

 now absent on a journey to Jenje, under the command of one 

 of his sons. He possesses some half-dozen of these villages, 

 the population of each forming the nucleus of a caravan, the 

 remainder being composed of hired natives of the neighborhood. 



"We were fortunate in gaining the village when we did, for 

 almost directly we had obtained shelter a heavy tornado came 



October, 

 1876. 



