300 FROM ISHOGO TO ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XV. 



At four p.m. we readied another Ashango village. 

 I was unwilling to accept the hospitality of this place 

 owing to the noise and annoyance caused by the vil- 

 lagers, in fact I felt that m}" head would not stand it, 

 and so fixed my camp at a short distance from it ; 

 erecting as usual slight sheds of poles thatched with 

 leaves. 



June 25th. The altitude of my encampment was 

 1480 feet above the sea-level. The thermometer at 

 six a.m. marked 72° Fahr., and at noon only 73°. In 

 the early morning a thick mist lay over the magnifi- 

 cent woodlands, and half hid the village and sur- 

 rounding palm-trees from our view. Ahead of us 

 were hills that rose much higher than our present 

 position ; we were now at length in the heart of the 

 mountainous country in the interior of Africa. 



It is very curious that one side of the street of 

 this village is peopled by the Ashango, and the other 

 side by the Njavi tribe. This was the only opportu- 

 nity I had of seeing people of the Njavi tribe ; it 

 appeared that they had been driven westward to this 

 jjlace by the enmity of a powerful tribe, of whom I 

 shall have to speak further on — the Ashangui — 

 whose coimtry lies near theirs on the east ; for the 

 territory occupied by the Njavi lies between Ashango- 

 land and the country of the Ashangui. These Njavi 

 were the shyest and most timid negroes I had ever 

 met with. They would never allow me to enter 

 their houses, and were filled with fear when I merely 

 looked at them. 



The streets of all the Ashango villages I have yet 

 seen are less broad than those of the Ishogo villages. 



