85 



discontented and restless, and if I had riot procured 

 meat, would have run away. 



Although we had fled from the mosquitoes at 

 Cunde Cunde village, the line of the traverse and 

 our road still lay along the Longoe stream, where 

 we found small villages at three or four points, 

 at one of which I saw the African desire for meat 

 overcome fear of fetish, when a sick village Chief 

 who had been banned by witch doctors from his 

 own village, crept across the forbidden ground 

 to beg a piece of venison. This village, larger 

 than the others, was defended by a stockade of 

 heavy timber built in the old days of intertribal 

 warfare ; but these were over, and under the 

 Pax Portuguesa the defences were rapidly falling 

 into disrepair. 



We camped at a village near a stream called 

 Cummunga, from where I hunted the surrounding 

 country, to realize that along the Longoe was little 

 other game than water buck and roan, and that 

 sable were scarce both here and along the remaining 

 distance of the second traverse to the Loando. 



As there was no object in completing the 

 second, we started the third traverse ; when, the 

 guide having failed us, I had to move by compass 

 for 15 miles until we reached the Coanza, and 

 nearly as many more on the fourth traverse from 

 this river south-east to the Loando. 



There were no villages on the right bank of 

 the Coanza, though many were marked there on 

 the map, the natives having abandoned this 

 bank years ago for the other, owing to severe 

 epidemics of small-pox. Not only were there no 



