68 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



extraordinary interest. Game is fairly plentiful, 

 and often when returning to the village in the 

 evening, after a visit to the curious rock in- 

 scriptions or paintings which are to be found on 

 several great granite masses at the foot of the 

 hills, we heard the coarse gruff bark of koodoo. 

 Here we were the guests of Mr. Carl Wiese, the 

 pioneer of this little-known portion of Africa. 

 Just recently I learned with great regret of his 

 death in Berlin. 



Chifumbaze is the centre of a mining district 

 of great antiquity, and we visited two or three 

 mines in the neighbourhood which were being 

 opened up for Mr. Weise's company under the 

 direction of Mr. Louis de Fries. Chief amongst 

 these was the Maggie's Luck Mine, where a small 

 stamp battery had been erected, and where a 

 rather curious occurrence of gold in granite was 

 being exploited. Close to the main open-cast 

 on this property were enormous old underground 

 galleries dug out by the miners of long, long ago 

 — no doubt Phoenicians — in their search for the 

 precious metal. A few miles from Chifumbaze 

 alluvial gold had been found in the bed of the 

 Vubwe River, and a number of turbulent spirits 

 were encamped there. One or two of these were 

 genuine diggers; others were the flotsam and 

 jetsam of Africa, who had drifted on strange 

 currents to a spot where mealie-meal could be 

 commandeered without much difficulty, and where 

 there was big game as well as gold to hunt for. 



Save in the remote fastnesses of the Congo, 

 cannibals are generally supposed to be creatures 

 of an age that has passed away; but just before 

 we arrived at Chifumbaze a number of men had 

 been brought in, roped and bound, by inhabitants 

 of the surrounding kraals, and delivered up to 



