THE BANYAI. 403 



(black antelope,) the finest I had ever seen, which had met 

 ts death by a lion. The drums, beating all night in on a 

 village near which we slept, showed that some person in it 

 had finished his course. On the occasion of the death of a 

 chief, a trader is liable to be robbed, for the people consider 

 themselves not amenable to law until a new one is elected. 

 We continued a very winding course, in order to avoid the 

 chief Katolosa, who is said to levy large sums upon those 

 who fall into his hands. One of our guides was a fine, tall 

 young man, the very image of Ben Habib the Arab. They 

 were carrying dried buffalo's meat to the market at Tete 

 as a private speculation. 



A great many of the Banyai are of a light coffee-and- 

 milk color, and, indeed, this color is considered handsome 

 throughout the whole country, a fair complexion being as 

 much a test of beauty with them as with us. As they 

 draw out their hair into small cords a foot in length, and 

 entwine the inner bark of a certain tree round each sepa- 

 rate cord, and dye this substance of a reddish color, many 

 of them put me in mind of the ancient Egyptians. The 

 great mass of dressed hair which they possess reaches to 

 the shoulders, but when they intend to travel they draw it 

 up to a bunch and tie it on the top of the head. They are 

 cleanly in their habits. 



As we did not come near human habitations, and could 

 only take short stages on account of the illness of one of 

 my men, I had an opportunity of observing the expedients 

 my party resorted to in order to supply their wants. 

 Large white edible mushrooms are found on the ant-hills, 

 and are very good. The mokuri, a tuber which abounds 

 in the Mopane country, they discovered by percussing the 

 ground with stones ; and another tuber, about the size of a 

 turnip, called "bonga," is found in the same situations. It 

 does not determine to the joints like the mokuri, and in 

 winter has a sensible amount of salt in it. A fruit called 

 " ndongo" by the Makololo, "dongolo" by the Bambiri, 

 resembles in appearance a small plum, which becomes 



