Chap. IX. STORMS— GREAT HEAT. 167 



I heard a few days afterwards that two of the 

 Asliira thieves had died soon after their return. I 

 wonder whether they had swallowed some of my 

 chemicals ! It was the belief of the people that I had 

 caused their death in some mysterious way for their 

 robbery of my property, and I was considered a most 

 potent wizard. 



On the 9tli of April we had a tornado and rain at 

 half-past eight in the evening. For hours, flash after 

 flash of lightning was seen all round the horizon, 

 except between the west and south. The heavens 

 seemed ploughed up by the flashes. I have re- 

 marked that the wind generally blows from the 

 south-east, but sometimes in the morning it blew 

 from the mountains between Mayolo and the Ngouyai 

 country. On the 12th we had a tremendous tor- 

 nado, the heaviest, I think, that we have had this 

 year. It came from the north-east. 



April 20t/i. The weather still continued oppres- 

 sively hot. At ten a.m. to-day the thermometer in 

 the village marked 92° 30' Fahr.* I took my instru- 

 ment into the neighbouring forest and found that 

 the temperature there fell to 84° 20', and remained 

 so until near four o'clock. When I returned to the 

 village at a quarter-past four p.m. the thermometer 

 stood at 92°. The great humidity of these dense 

 shades causes an agreeable coolness, and I have 

 noticed that when rain has fallen during the night 

 there often remains some moisture on the surface of 

 the leaves at two p.m., showing how slow, com- 



* For the convenience of the reader I have converted centigrade into 

 Fahrenheit. 



