260 COLLECTOR'S RAMBLES 



and food, with tools for skinning birds, and blankets 

 to sleep in. When we came near to Boyeruma, our 

 friends wanted us to take a path to the left, and avoid 

 the town, but we had loaded our guns with pistol- 

 balls, and told the natives we were going through the 

 town , and if a man interfered with us, we would riddle 

 him with bullets. Our friends went no farther than 

 the river , and we, with hammers cocked and fingers 

 on triggers, crossed on the fallen tree placed in lieu of 

 a bridge, and were in the Boyeruma country. 



When we reached the town, not a native was to be 

 seen. They had quietly stolen away. I do not think 

 we looked as if we would be trifled with ; and, if a man 

 had made his appearance in other than a friendly man- 

 ner, he would not have lived long enough to tell his 

 friends what had happened. 



Cooking on a small fire were some yams, to which 

 we helped ourselves. One or two houses in the course 

 of construction showed that the inhabitants had left 

 only a few moments before. We each sent a charge of 

 bullets through one of their houses, to intimidate them, 

 then bent our steps toward Shugary. The forest was 

 dense and gloomy, scarcely admitting a ray of sunlight 

 for a long distance, and we were glad when we came 

 out upon an open meadow surrounded by flowering 

 trees and shrubs. Through this grassy expanse, a little 

 creek flowed : the clear water with the pebbly bottom 

 reminding us of some of our New England streams. 



