Chap. XVI. DELAY— HEAVY BAINS. 299 



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 direc- 

 tion 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 cannot get away quickly from these chiefs, they like to 

 have the honour 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 ; everything 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 everything in 

 the morning, even inside the tent ; there is only a short time 

 of sunshine in the afternoon, and even that is so interrupted by 

 thunder-showers that we cannot 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 north-east or east. The thermometer falls 

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

 A\eather is fair, the protected thermometer generally rises as 

 high as 82°, even in the mornings and evenings. 



24^A. — 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 stupifying than 

 exciting nature ; hence the beer-bibbers are great sleepers ; 

 they may frequently 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, winch is 

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

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



