FERTILITY OF THE SOII,. 275 



company joined in the response by clapping of hands 

 too. 



After the more serious business was over, I asked if he 

 had ever seen a white man before. He replied, " Never ; 

 you are the very first I have seen with a white skin and 

 straight hair ; your clothing too is different from any we 

 have ever seen." They had been visited by native 

 Portuguese and Mambari only. 



On learning from some of the people that " Shinte's 

 mouth was bitter for want of tasting ox-flesh," I presented 

 him with an ox, to his great delight ; and as his country 

 is so well adapted for cattle, I advised him to begin a 

 trade in cows with the Makololo. He was pleased with 

 the idea ; and when we returned from Loanda, we found 

 that he had profited by the hint, for he had got three, 

 and one of them justified my opinion of the country, for it 

 was more like a prize heifer for fatness than any we had 

 seen in Africa. He soon afterwards sent us a basket of 

 green maize boiled, another of manioc-meal, and a small 

 fowl. The maize shows by its size the fertility of the black 

 soil of all the valleys here, and so does the manioc, though 

 no manure is ever applied. We saw manioc attain a 

 height of six feet and upwards, and this is a plant which 

 requires the very best soil. 



During this time Manenko had been extremely busy 

 with all her people in getting up a very pretty hut and 

 courtyard, to be, as she said, her residence always when 

 white men were brought by her along the same path. 

 When she heard that we had given an ox to her uncle, 

 she came forward to us with the air of one wronged, and 

 explained that " This white man belonged to her ; she 

 had brought him here, and therefore the ox was hers, not 

 Shinte's." She ordered her men to bring it, got it 

 slaughtered by them, and presented her uncle with a leg 

 only. Shinte did not seem at all annoyed at the occur- 

 rence. 



igth. — I was awakened at an early hour by a messenger 

 from vShinte, but the thirst of a raging fever being just 

 assuaged, by the bursting forth of a copious perspira- 

 tion, I declined going for a few hours. Violent action 

 of the heart all the way to the town, did not predispose 

 me to be patient with the delay which then occurred, 

 probably on account of the divination being unfavour- 

 able : " They could not find Shinte." When I returned 



