CHIEF LATOME'S VILLAGE. 233 



dug in its bed. ' This would be a fine place to cultivate rice ! 

 But now the crowned cranes, swans, knob-billed geese, 

 and storks are undisturbed lords of the flooded land, which 

 with so little trouble might yield a thousandfold profit. Game 

 also abounds here, but buffaloes and lions are less common. 

 Hyaenas, dangerous only to goats and sheep, are numerous. 

 The population was busy at this time tilling the fields with 

 crescent-shaped pieces of iron fixed to strong bamboo handles, 

 often ten feet long. A visit to Latome gave us an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing his village. By constructing small stone 

 walls round the hill, a row of small terraces, one above 

 another, had been made, on which separate zeribas and huts 

 were built close together, each of them surrounded by a bam- 

 boo fence backed by wood, and made so strong that a musket- 

 ball could scarcely penetrate them. Loronio is one of the 

 strongest positions in the country, indeed almost impreg- 

 nable, on account of its situation upon the mountain, its 

 thickly packed zeribas, separated only by steep narrow lanes, 

 its rows of palisades and bamboo walls, and the fact that its 

 inhabitants are always prepared for war. A number of watch- 

 towers, often three storeys high, afford the watchmen an unin- 

 terrupted view over the country. 



Latome received me in a zeriba near the summit of the 

 hill, and close by the cattle-yard. The zeriba is composed of 

 about ten very cleanly kept huts, with roofs made of palm- 

 leaves, and about double the number of granaries. Latome is 

 an elderly gentleman of medium height and rather pleasant 

 features. He bears the Latiika marks, formed by six scars 

 in two sets of three each, upon his temples. He is a very 

 clever talker, and is known and feared as cunning and untrust- 

 worthy. That occasionally his words are followed by deeds is 

 proved by the fact that not many years ago he destroyed 

 103 Danagla, notwithstanding their superior arms. He has 

 always shown himself very friendly and liberal towards me, 

 although generally accused of avarice. On this occasion we 

 received presents of honey, ivory, and cattle, return gifts having, 

 of course, to be made. 



Meantime a motley crowd assembled in the yard — women 

 and girls, the former with leather aprons, the latter entirely 



