FRIENDLY NATIVES 225 



little brook which was one of the headwaters of the 

 Duvida. It was a pleasure to see the mules greedily 

 bury their muzzles in the pasturage. Our tents were 

 pitched in the open, near a shady tree, which sent out 

 its low branches on every side. At this camp Cherrie 

 shot a lark, very characteristic of the open upland 

 country, and MUler found two bats in the rotten wood 

 of a dead log. He heard them squeaking and dug 

 them out ; he could not tell by what method they had 

 gotten in. 



Here Kermit, while a couple of miles from our tents, 

 came across an encampment of Nhambiquaras. There 

 were twenty or thirty of them — men, women, and a few 

 children. Kermit, after the manner of honest folk in 

 the wUdemess, advanced ostentatiously in the open, 

 calling out to give warning of his coming. Like sur- 

 roundings may cause like manners. The early Saxons in 

 England deemed it legal to kUl any man who came 

 through the woods without shouting or blowing a horn ; 

 and in Nhambiquaraland at the present time it is against 

 etiquette, and may be very unhealthy, to come through 

 the woods toward strangers without loudly announcing 

 one's presence. The Nhambiquaras received Kermit 

 with the utmost cordiahty, and gave him pineapple- 

 wine to drink. They were stark naked as usual ; they 

 had no hammocks or blankets, and their huts were 

 flimsy shelters of palm-branches. Yet they were in fine 

 condition. Half a dozen of the men and a couple of 

 boys accompanied Kermit back to our camp, paying no 

 slightest heed to the rain which was falling. They were 

 bold and friendly, good-natured — at least superficially — 

 and very inquisitive. In feasting, the long reeds thrust 

 through holes in their lips did not seem to bother them, 

 and they laughed at the suggestion of removing them ; 



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