222 DIFFICULTY WITH THE GUIDES 



but a terrible sense of sinking; came back with the feeling 

 of safety. The same demand of payment for leave to pass 

 was made on the 20th by old Ionga Panza as by the other 

 Chiboque. I offered the shell presented by Shinte, but 

 Ionga Panza said he was too old for ornaments. We might 

 have succeeded very well with him, for he was by no 

 means unreasonable, and had but a very small village of 

 supporters; but our two guides from Kangenke compli- 

 cated our difficulties by sending for a body of Bangala 

 traders, with a view to force us to sell the tusks of Seke- 

 letu and pay them with the price. We offered to pay 

 them handsomely if they would perform their promise of 

 guiding us to Cassange, but they knew no more of the 

 paths than we did; and my men had paid them repeatedly 

 and tried to get rid of them, but could not. They now 

 joined with our enemies, and so did the traders. Two 

 guns and some beads belonging to the latter were standing 

 in our encampment, aud the guides seized them and ran 

 off. As my men knew that we should be called upon to 

 replace them, they gave chase, and when the guides saw 

 that they would be caught they threw down the guns, 

 directed their flight to the village, and rushed into a hut. 

 The doorway is not much higher than that of a dog's ken- 

 nel. One of the guides was reached by one of my men as 

 he was in the act of stooping to get in, and a cut was 

 inflicted on a projecting part of the body which would have 

 made any one in that posture wince. The guns were 

 restored, but the beads were lost in the flight. All I had 

 remaining of my stock of beads could not replace those 

 lost ; and, though we explained that we had no part in the 

 guilt of the act, the traders replied that we had brought 

 the thieves into the country ; these were of the Bangala, 

 who had been accustomed to plague the Portuguese in the 

 most vexatious way. We were striving to get a passage 

 through the country, and, feeling anxious that no crime 

 whatever should be laid to our charge, tried the concilia 



