300 INTERVIEW WITH KAWAWA. 



(lat. 12° 22' 53" Si, long. 20° 58' E.,) who brought us a 

 handsome present of meal and the meat of an entire 

 pallah. We here slaughtered the last of the cows pre- 

 sented to us by Mr. Schut, which I had kept milked until 

 it gave only a teaspoonful at a time. My men enjoyed a 

 hearty laugh when they found that I had given up all hope 

 of more, for they had been talking among themselves about 

 my perseverance. 



May 30. — We left Bango, and proceeded to the river 

 Loembwe, which flows to the N.N.E. and abounds in 

 hippopotami. It is about sixty yards wide and four feet 

 deep, but usually contains much less water than this, for 

 there are fishing-weirs placed right across it. Like all the 

 African rivers in this quarter, it has morasses on each 

 bank ; yet the valley in which it winds, when seen from 

 the high lands above, is extremely beautiful. 



Having passed the Loembwe, we were in a more open 

 country, with every few hours a small valley, through 

 which ran a little rill in the middle of a bog. These were 

 always difficult to pass, and, being numerous, kept the 

 lower part of the person constantly wet. 



On the evening of the 2d of June we reached the village 

 of Kawawa, — rather an important personage in these parts. 

 This village consists of forty or fifty huts, and is surrounded 

 by forest. Drums were beating over the body of a man 

 who had died the preceding day, and some women were 

 making a clamorous wail at the door of his hut, and 

 addressing the deceased as if alive. 



In the morning we had agreeable intercourse with Ka- 

 wawa : he visited us, and we sat and talked nearly the 

 whole day with him and his people. When we visited 

 him in return, we found him in his large court-house, 

 which, though of a bee-hive shape, was remarkably well 

 built. As I had shown him a number of curiosities, he 

 now produced a jug, of English ware, shaped like an old 

 man holding a can of beer in his hand, as the greatest 

 ouriosity he had to exhibit. 



