FAREWELL TO SIIINTE. 179 



the rain was too heavy for our departure, and the guides 

 still required time for preparation. Shinte himself waa 

 busy getting some meal ready for my use in the journey. 

 As it rained nearly all day, it was no sacrifice to submit to 

 his advice and remain. Sambanza staggered to Manenko's 

 hut: she, however, who had never promised "to love, 

 honor, and obey him/' had not been "nursing her wrath 

 to keep it warm;" so she coolly bundled him into the hut, 

 and put him to bed. 



As the last proof of friendship, Shinte came into my tent, 

 though it could scarcely contain more than one person, 

 looked at all the curiosities, the quicksilver, the looking- 

 glass, books, hair-brushes, comb, watch, &c. &c, with the 

 greatest interest; then, closing the tent, so that none of his 

 own people might see the extravagance of which he was 

 about to be guilty, he drew out from his clothing a string 

 of beads and the end of a conical shell, which is consi- 

 dered, in regions far from the sea, of as great value as the 

 Lord Mayor's badge is in London. He hung it round my 

 neck, and said, " There, now you have a proof of my friend- 

 ship." 



My men informed me that these shells are so highly 

 valued in this quarter, as evidences of distinction, that for 

 two of them a slave might be bought, and five would be 

 considered a handsome price for an elephant's tusk worth 

 ten pounds. At our last interview old Shinte pointed out 

 our principal guide, Intemese, a man about fifty, who was, 

 he said, ordered to remain by us till we should reach the 

 sea; that I had now left Sekeletu far behind, and must 

 henceforth look to Shinte alone for aid, and that it would 

 always be most cheerfully rendered. This was only a 

 polite way of expressing his wishes for my success. It was 

 the good words only of the guides which were to aid mo 

 from the next chief, Katema, on to the sea; they were to 

 turn back on reaching him; but he gave a good supply of 

 food for the journey before us, and, after mentioning as a 

 reason for letting us go even now that no one could say 



