280 FAREWEI& TO SHINTE. 



Shinte had said, the rain was too heavy for our departure, 

 and the guides still required time for preparation. Shinte 

 himself was busy getting some meal ready for my use 

 in the journey. As it rained nearly all day, it was no 

 sacrifice to submit to his advice and remain. Sambanza 

 staggered to Manenko's hut ; she, however, who had 

 never promised " to love, honour, and obey him," had 

 not been " nursing her wrath to keep it warm," so she 

 coolly bundled him into the hut, and put him to bed. 



As the last proof of friendship, Shinte came into my 

 tent, though it could scarcely contain more than one 

 person, looked at all the curiosities, the quicksilver, the 

 looking-glass, books, hair-brushes, comb, watch, &c. &c, 

 with the greatest interest ; then closing the tent, so that 

 none of his own people might see the extravagance of 

 which he was about to be guilty, he drew out from his 

 clothing a string of beads, and the end of a conical shell, 

 which is considered, in regions far from the sea, of as 



freat value as the Lord Mayor's badge is in London. He 

 ung it round my neck, and said, " There, now you have 

 a proof of my friendship." 



My men informed me, that these shells are so highly 

 valued in this quarter, as evidences of distinction, that 

 for two of them a slave might be bought, and five would 

 be considered a handsome price for an elephant's tusk 

 worth ten pounds. At our last interview old Shinte 

 pointed out our principal guide, Intemese, a man about 

 fifty, who was, he said, ordered to remain by us till we 

 should reach the sea ; that I had now left Sekeletu far 

 behind, and must henceforth look to Shinte alone for 

 aid, and that it would always be most cheerfully rendered. 

 This was only a polite way of expressing his wishes for 

 my success. It was the good words only of the guides 

 which were to aid me from the next chief, Katema, on 

 to the sea ; they were to turn back on reaching him, 

 but he gave a good supply of food for the journey before 

 us, and, after mentioning as a reason for letting us go 

 even now, that no one could say we had been driven away 

 from the town, since we had been several days with him, 

 he gave a most hearty salutation, and we parted with 

 the wish that God might bless him. 



