PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA 67 



to the Luia. All the crocodiles of the Victoria 

 Nyanza would not have kept me out of the 

 water. Even then the irritation did not cease, 

 and for quite two hours afterwards I was in 

 torture. 



It was almost dark when we left the Luia, and 

 as neither Julius nor I knew where camp had 

 been pitched, we wandered along native paths 

 and yelled and shouted. Night fell, and it 

 seemed as if we should have to spend a vigil in 

 the bush. Now and then something crashed 

 into the dense undergrowth along the edge of 

 which we were feeling our way — bush-buck in all 

 probability. My Angoni companion had been 

 telling me of the fearless way he would act should 

 a lion cross our path, but when his teeth chattered 

 with fright at the noise of the buck dashing past 

 us I did not exactly regard him as a satisfactory 

 comrade with whom to spend a night in the 

 forest. I banged off two or three shots in quick 

 succession, hoping thereby to attract L.'s atten^ 

 tion and get some idea of the whereabouts of the 

 camp. There came back a faint answering report 

 away to the north-east, and eventually I sat 

 down to a substantial guinea-fowl dinner. Both 

 on this and on another occasion when I was lost 

 in the bush of North-Western Rhodesia (for a 

 much longer period) I walked, as is usual with 

 those who have lost their way in the bush, in a 

 circle. 



Trekking through Kaponga's village, I reached 

 Chifumbaze the next afternoon. L., who had a 

 touch of malaria, arrived in a "machilla" (ham- 

 mock) which I sent back for him the following 

 morning. Chifumbaze is a Portuguese prazo^ 

 or administrative post, encircled by high hills. 

 It is a wild country, the centre of a district of 



