392 BO ROMA'S VILLAGE. Chap. XXIX. 



finished, and I had now lived two months without suffering 

 any inconvenience from the want of it except an occasional 

 longing for animal food or milk. 



In marching along, the rich reddish-brown soil was so 

 /lammy that it was difficult to walk. It is however extremely 

 fertile, and yields amazing quantities of corn, maize, millet, 

 ground-nuts, pumpkins, and cucumbers. The people build 

 their huts on high stages as a protection against the spotted 

 hyaena, and also against lions and elephants. The hyaena, 

 though a very cowardly animal, frequently approaches persons 

 lying asleep, and makes an ugly gash on the face. Mozinkwa 

 had lost his upper lip in this way, and I have heard of men 

 being killed, and children being carried off by them; for 

 though the sound of the human voice will scare him, yet, 

 when his teeth are once in the flesh, he holds on. This 

 animal shows an amazing power of jaw : he crunches up with 

 the greatest ease the leg-bones of oxen, from which the natives 

 have extracted everything eatable. 



February Uh. — We were much detained by rains, which 

 prevented us from advancing above a few miles each day. 

 The wind up to this point had been always from the east, but 

 now both rain and wind came so generally from the west, that 

 we were obliged to make our encampment face the east in 

 order to have them in our backs. The country adjacent to 

 the river abounds in large trees ; but the population is so 

 numerous that it is difficult to get dry firewood. There are 

 numbers of tamarind-trees, and of another very similar tree, 

 called Motondo, yielding a fruit as large as a small walnut, of 

 which the elephants are very fond ; its timber is excellent for 

 building boats, as it does not soon rot. On the 6th we came 

 to the village of Boroma, which is situated among a number 

 of others, each surrounded by an extensive patch of cultivated 

 ground. On the opposite side of the river rises a cluster of 

 conical hills called Chorichori. Boroma did not make his 

 appearance, but sent a substitute who acted civilly. In the 

 morning we announced our intention of moving on ; Boroma 

 again did not present himself, and his mother stated by way 

 of apology that he had been seized that morning by the 

 Barimo, which probably meant that his lordship was drunk ; 

 at the same time she sent a present of some corn and a fowl. 



