308 LAGfiRNESS FOR TRADE. Chap. XXIII. 



After leaving Cabango on the 21st we crossed several little 

 streams running into the Chihombo on our left, in one of 

 which I saw tree ferns (Cyathea dregei) for the first time in 

 Africa. We saw also grass-trees of two varieties, which in 

 damp localities attained a height of forty feet. On crossing 

 the Chihombo, about twelve miles above Cabango, we found 

 it waist-deep and rapid, and we were delighted to see the 

 evidences of buffaloes and hippopotami on its banks. As soon 

 as we got away from the track of the slave-traders the more 

 kindly spirit of the southern Balonda appeared, for an old man 

 brought a large present of food from one of the villages, and 

 volunteered himself to go as our guide. The people, however, 

 of the numerous villages through which we passed, always 

 made efforts to detain us, that they might have a little trade 

 in the way of furnishing our suppers. Sometimes large pots 

 of beer were offered to us as a temptation. Occasional^ the 

 head-man would peremptorily order us to halt under a tree 

 which he pointed out. At other times young men volunteered 

 to guide us to the impassable part of the next bog. At one 

 village, indeed, they would not show us the path at all, unless 

 we remained at least a day with them. Having started by 

 ourselves, we took a path in the right direction, but it led us 

 into an inextricable thicket. Eeturning to the village, we 

 tried another footpath in a similar direction, and with a 

 similar result. We were thus forced to come back and remain 

 until the following morning, when they put us in the proper 

 path. Beyond this forest we found the village of Nyakaionga, 

 a sister of the late Matiamvo, who treated us handsomely. 

 She wished her people to guide us to the next village, but 

 ■Shis they declined doing unless we traded with them. She 

 -tfien requested us to wait an hour or two till she could get 

 ready a present of meal, manioc-roots, ground-nuts, and a 

 fowl, and she sent her son to the next village without re- 

 quiring payment. It was truly pleasant to meet with people 

 possessing some civility, after the hauteur we had experienced 

 on the slave-path. The stream which ran past her village 

 was quite impassable for a distance of about a mile both up 

 and down stream, the bog being soft and about six feet deep. 



On the 28th we reached the village of the chief Bango (lat. 

 12° 22' 53" S., long. 20° 58' E.), who brought us a handsome 



