310 FEAR OF THE WHITE MAN. Chap. XXIII. 



ever freezes ; but during the prevalence of the south wind 

 the thermometer sinks as low as 42°, and conveys the im- 

 pression of bitter cold. 



May 30th. — We left Bango, and proceeded to the river 

 Loembwe, which flows to the N.N.E., through a valley about 

 a quarter of a mile wide, remarkable for its picturesque, 

 parkish scenery. Like all the African rivers in this quarter, 

 it has morasses on each bank, and abounds in hippopotami. 

 The villages are widely apart and difficult of access, the paths 

 being so covered with tall grass that even an ox can scarcely 

 follow the traoki The grass cut the feet of my men; yet we 

 met a woman with a little child, and a girl, wending their 

 way home with loads of manioc without appearing to suffer 

 from this cause. The unexpected sight of a white man always 

 infuses a tremor into their dark bosoms, and in every case of 

 the kind they appeared immensely relieved when I had fairly 

 passed. In the villages the dogs run away with their tails 

 between their legs, as if they had seen a lion ; the women peer 

 from behind the walls till he comes near them, and then hastily 

 dash into the house ; little children meeting you in the street 

 set up such a screaming that they seem to be on the point of 

 going into fits. Among the Bechuanas I have been obliged 

 to reprove the women for making a hobgoblin of the white 

 man, and telling their children that they would send for him 

 to bite them. 



Having passed the Loembwe, we entered a more open 

 country, occasionally intersected by small valleys, through 

 which ran rills in the midst of bogs. These were always 

 difficult to pass, and, being numerous, kept the lower part of 

 the person constantly wet. At different points in our course 

 we came upon votive offerings to the Barimo, usually consist- 

 ing of food; every deserted village still contained its idols and 

 little sheds with pots of medicine in them. One afternoon we 

 passed a small frame-house, with the head of an ox in it as an 

 object of worship. The dreary uniformity of gloomy forests 

 and open flats must have a depressing influence on the minds 

 of the people. Some villages appear more superstitious than 

 others, if we may judge from the greater number of idols 

 they contain. 



Only on one occasion did we witness a specimen of quarrel 



