204 WANT OF FOOD. 



of their company, and make a sort of offer of it to him. 

 This lad ought to have done so to me : the rest of the 

 party always observed this custom. I felt annoyed at the 

 imposition, but the order we invariably followed in cross- 

 ing a river forced me to submit. The head of the party 

 remained to be ferried over last ; so, if I had not come to 

 terms, I would have been, as I always was in crossing 

 rivers which we could not swim, completely in the power 

 of the enemy. It was but rarely we could get a head-man 

 so witless as to cross a river with us and remain on the 

 opposite bank in a convenient position to be seized as a 

 hostage in case of my being caught. 



This trick is but one of a number equally dishonorable 

 which are practised by tribes that lie adjacent to the more 

 civilized settlements. The Balonda farther east told us, 

 by way of warning, that many parties of the more central 

 tribes had at various periods set out, in order to trade with 

 the white men themselves, instead of through the Mambari, 

 but had always been obliged to return without reaching 

 their destination, in consequence of so many pretexts being 

 invented by the tribes encountered in the way for fining 

 them of their ivory. 



This ford was in 11° 15' 47" S. latitude, but the weather was 

 so excessively cloudy we got no observation for longitude. 



We were now in want of food; for, to the great surprise 

 of my companions, the people of Kangenke gave nothing 

 except by way of sale, and charged the most exorbitant 

 pxuces for the little meal and manioc they brought. The 

 only article of barter my men had was a little fat saved 

 from the ox we slaughtered at Katema's; so I was obliged 

 to give them a portion of the stock of beads. One day 

 (29th) of westing brought us from the Kasai to near the 

 village of Katende, and we saw that we were in a land 

 where no hope could be entertained of getting supplies of 

 animal food, for one of our guides caught a light-blue- 

 colored mole and two mice for his supper. The care with 

 which he wrapped them up in a leaf and slung them on 



