SIGNS OF WAR. 709 



ated in a broad and populous valley containing, probably, some two or three 

 thousand souls. Here we discovered the river which received all the streams 

 that flowed between Vinyata and Chiwyu. It is called Leewumbu, and its 

 flow from this valley is west. Even in the dry season it is a considerable 

 stream, some twenty feet in width and about two feet in depth, but in the 

 rainy season it becomes a deep and formidable river. The natives received 

 us coldly, but, as we were only two days' journey from Iraruba, I redoubled 

 my exertions to conciliate the surly, suspicious people, and that evening 

 my effort seemed crowned with success, for they brought milk, eggs, and chick- 

 ens, for sale, for which I parted freely with cloth. The fame of my liberality 

 reached the ears of the great man of the valley, the magic doctor, who, in 

 the absence of a recognised king, is treated by the natives with the deference 

 and respect due to royalty. This important personage brought me a fat ox 

 the second day of my arrival at Vinyata, and in exchange received double its 

 value in cloth and beads, while a rich present was bestowed upon his brother 

 and son. The great man begged for the heart of the slaughtered ox, which 

 was also given him, and other requests were likewise honoured by promjDt 

 compliance. 



" We had been compelled to take advantage of the fine sun which shono 

 this day to dry the bales and goods, and I noticed, though without misgiving, 

 that the natives eyed them greedily. On the morning of the third day, the 

 magic doctor returned again to camp to beg for some more beads, to ' make 

 brotherhood with him.' To this, after some slight show of reluctance to 

 give too much, I assented, and he departed apparently pleased. Half an 

 hour afterwards the war-cry of the Waturu was heard resounding through 

 each of the two hundred villages of the Leewumbu valley. This war-cry 

 was similar to that of the Wagogo, and phonetically it might be spelt ' Hehu, 

 A Hehu,' the latter syllables drawn out in a prolonged cry — thrilling and 

 loud. As we had heard the Wagogo sound such war notes upon every slight 

 apparition of strangers, we imagined that the warriors of Ituru were sum- 

 moned to contend against some marauders like the warlike Waramba or other 

 malcontent neighbours, and nothing disturbed by it, we pursued our various 

 avocations, like peaceful beings, fresh from our new brotherhood with the 

 elders of Ituru. Some of our men were gone out to the neighbouring pool 

 to draw water for their respective messes ; others, again, were about starting 

 to purchase food, when suddenly we saw the outskirts of the camp darkened 

 by about a hundred natives in full war costume. Feathers of the bustard, 

 the eagle, and the kite, waved above some of their heads ; the mane of the 

 zebra and the giraffe encircled other swarthy brows ; in their left hands they 

 held bows and arrows, while in their right they bore spears. 



" This hostile gathering naturally alarmed us, for what had we done to 

 occasion disturbance or war ? Remembering the pacific bearing of Living- 



