DISCOUKAGEMENTS. 381 



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 kennel. 

 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 project- 

 ing 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 conciliatory plan here, though we were not, as 

 in the other instances, likely to be overpowered by numbers. 



My men offered all their ornaments, and I offered all my beads 

 and shirts ; but, though we had come to the village against our 

 will, and the guides had also followed us contrary to our desire, 

 and had even sent for the Bangala traders without our knowledge 

 or consent, yet matters could not be arranged without our giving 

 an ox and one of the tusks. We were all becoming dishearten- 

 ed, and could not wonder that native expeditions from the interior 

 to the coast had generally failed to reach their destinations. My 

 people were now so much discouraged that some proposed to re- 

 turn home ; the prospect of being obliged to return when just on 

 the threshold of the Portuguese settlements distressed me exceed- 

 ingly. After using all my powers of persuasion, I declared to 

 them that if they returned I would go on alone, and went into 

 my little tent with the mind directed to Him who hears the sigh- 

 ing of the soul, and was soon followed by the head of Mohorisi, 

 saying, " We will never leave you. Do not be disheartened. 

 Wherever you lead we will follow. Our remarks were made only 

 on account of the injustice of these people." Others followed, 

 and with the most artless simplicity of manner told me to be 

 comforted — "they were all my children; they knew no one but 

 Sekeletu and me, and they would die for me ; they had not fought 



