DELAY.— HEAVY EAINS. 323 



was aught supernatural in it ; and had Mr. Murray, who kindly 

 brought it from England, seen its popularity among both Mako- 

 lolo and Balonda, he would have been gratified with the direction 

 his generosity then took. It was the only mode of instruction 

 I was ever pressed to repeat. The people came long distances 

 for the express purpose of seeing the objects and hearing the 

 explanations. 



One can not get away quickly from these chiefs ; they like to 

 have the honor of strangers residing in their villages. Here we 

 had an additional cause of delay in frequent rains ; twenty -four 

 hours never elapsed without heavy showers; every thing is affected 

 by the dampness ; surgical instruments become all rusty, clothing 

 mildewed, and shoes mouldy ; my little tent was now so rotten 

 and so full of small holes that every smart shower caused a fine 

 mist to descend on my blanket, and made me fain to cover the 

 head with it. Heavy dews lay on every thing in the morning, 

 even inside the tent ; there is only a short time of sunshine in t]$e 

 afternoon, and even that is so interrupted by thunder-showers that 

 we can not dry our bedding. 



The winds coming from the north always bring heavy clouds 

 and rain ; in the south, the only heavy rains noticed are those 

 which come from the northeast or east. The thermometer falls as 

 low as 72° when there is no sunshine, though, when the weather 

 is fair, the protected thermometer generally rises as high as 82°, 

 even in the mornings and evenings. 



24th. We expected to have started to-day, but Sambanza, who 

 had been sent off early in the morning for guides, returned at 

 midday without them, and drunk. This was the first case of real 

 babbling intoxication we had seen in this region. The boyaloa, 

 or beer of the country, has more of a stupefying than exciting- 

 nature ; hence the beer-bibbers are great sleepers ; they may fre- 

 quently be seen lying on their faces sound asleep. This peculiarity 

 of posture was ascribed, by no less an authority than Aristotle, to 

 wine, while those who were sent asleep by beer were believed 

 "to lie upon their backs." 



Sambanza had got into a state of inebriation from indulging 

 in mead, similar to that which Shinte presented to us, which is 

 much more powerful than boyaloa. As far as we could collect 

 from his incoherent sentences, Shinte had said the rain was too 



