66 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



in my diary that the day after leaving Chiuta we 

 left the main North Road and travelled a native 

 path, and that in the evening we purchased 

 twenty-four eggs, forty-five pounds of mealie- 

 meal, half a bottle of honey, monkey nuts, beans, 

 and tomatoes galore for three stretches of limbo, 

 or calico — equivalent to about one shilling and 

 sixpence. What a country for the civil service 

 pensioner ! Guinea-fowl provided us with many 

 a good meal on the way up, but buck we found 

 very scarce. At the Chiritzi River a herd of 

 stately koodoo broke past us, and we saw a few 

 zebra, but our rifles registered clean misses, and 

 we had to fall back on the eggs and tomatoes and 

 a small partridge that I bagged just before dusk. 

 At the Chiritzi our natives took elaborate pre- 

 cautions against lions, dragging thorns and bushes 

 all round the camp. 



The next river we crossed was the M'Poura, 

 and then the Loangwa. The following morning 

 the great rock mass of Mount N'Onza towered 

 high above us. A few hard marches brought us 

 to the Luia, a fast-flowing river twenty-five 

 yards broad in the dry season and about double 

 this width in the rains. I shot a brace of guinea- 

 fowl, and then with Julius followed up the 

 spoor of a water-buck along the banks of the 

 river. 



Here I made the acquaintance of the buffalo 

 bean — a most diabolical yet harmless-looking 

 member of the vegetable kingdom which must 

 have been created with the express purpose of 

 driving men mad. These beans are covered with 

 fine, scarcely perceptible spines, which when 

 liberated settle on one's flesh and set up the most 

 maddening irritation conceivable. I quickly 

 gave up the water-buck spoor, and dashed down 



