Oiav. XV11I. WANT OK FOOD. 225 



morning, who shortly brought us to the hanks of the Kasye, 

 Kasai, or Loko, which is about one hundred yards broad in 

 this part, and runs to the north and north-east. The scenery 

 on its banks is most charming, and reminded me much of my 

 native Clyde: it meanders through the glen, at one time 

 embowered in sylvan vegetation, at another time gleaming 

 amid verdant meadows. The men pointed out its course and 

 said, " Though 3*011 sail along it for months, you will turn 

 without seeing the end of it/' We crossed it in canoes in 1 1° 

 15' 47" S. lat. 



"We were now in want of food, for, to the great surprise oi 

 my companions, the people of Kangenke gave nothing, and 

 charged a most exorbitant price for the meal and manioc they 

 brought. As the only article of barter my men had was a 

 little fat saved from the ox slaughtered at Katema's, I was 

 obliged to give them a portion of my stock of beads. We 

 saw moreover that we were in a land where no animal food 

 was to be had, for one of our guides caught a light-blue 

 coloured mole and two mice for his supper, and the care with 

 which he wrapped them up in a leaf and slung them on his 

 spear told us that we could not hope to enjoy any larger 

 game. We saw no trace of any other animals than these ; 

 and, on coming to the villages beyond this, we often saw boys 

 and girls engaged in digging up these tiny quadrupeds. 



On the 29th we approached the village of Katende, who 

 sent for me on the next day, and invited me to enter a hut, as 

 it was raining at the time. After a long time spent in giving 

 and receiving messages from the great man, we were told that 

 he wanted either a man, a tusk, beads, copper rings, or a shell, 

 as a toll. No one, we were assured, was allowed to pass 

 through his country, or even to behold him, without some- 

 thing being presented. Having humbly explained our cir- 

 cumstances, and that he could not expect to " catch a humble 

 cow by the horns," — a proverb similar to our "drawing 

 blood from a stone " — we were told to go home, and he would 

 speak again to us next day. I could not avoid laughing at 

 the impudence of the savage, but, as it was thought advisable 

 to propitiate him by a small present, I turned out my shirts, 

 and, having selected the worst as a sop for him, I invited him 

 to come and choose anything else I had, adding that, when I 



