Chap. XI Y. MISTAKEN FOR MAZITU. 389 



about a mile distant. We preferred to remain in the 

 smooth shady spot outside the hamlet, to being pent up in 

 a treeless stockade. Twenty or thirty men came dropping 

 in, all fully armed with bows and arrows, some of them 

 were at least six feet four in height, yet these giants were 

 not ashamed to say, " We thought that you were Mazitu, 

 and, being afraid, ran away." Their orders to us were 

 evidently inspired by terror, and so must the refusal of 

 the headman to receive a cloth, or lend us a hut have 

 been ; but as we never had the opportunity of realizing 

 what feelings a successful invasion would produce, we did 

 not know whether to blame them or not. The headman, 

 a tall old smith, with an enormous, well-made knife of his 

 own workmanship, came quietly round, and, inspecting 

 the shelter, which, from there being abundance of long 

 grass and bushes near, our men put up for us in half an 

 hour, gradually changed his tactics, and, in the evening, 

 presented us with a huge pot of porridge and a deliciously 

 well-cooked fowl, and made an apology for having been so 

 rude to strangers, and a lamentation that he had been so 

 foolish as to refuse the fine cloth we had offered. Another 

 cloth was of course presented, and we had the pleasure of 

 parting good friends next day. 



Our guide, who belonged to the stockade near to which 

 we had slept, declined to risk himself further than his 

 home. While waiting to hire another, Masiko attempted 

 to purchase a goat, and had nearly concluded the bargain, 

 when the wife of the would-be seller came forward, and 

 said to her husband, " You appear as if you were unmar- 

 ried ; selling a goat without consulting your wife ; what 

 an insult to a woman ! What sort of man are you ? " 

 Masiko urged the man, saying, "Let us conclude the 

 bargain, and never mind her ; " but he being better in- 

 structed, replied, " No, I have raised a host against myself 

 already," and refused. 



