MORE DISCOURAGEMENTS. 329 



and only recently rendered capable of supporting other 

 domestic animals besides the goat, by trie destruction 

 of the game through the extensive introduction of fire- 

 arms. We might all have been as ignorant of the ex- 

 istence of this insect-plague as the Portuguese, had it 

 not been for the numerous migrations of pastoral tribes, 

 which took place in the south in consequence of Zulu 

 irruptions. 



During these exciting scenes I always forgot my fever, 

 but a terrible sense of sinking came back with the feeling 

 of safety. The same demand of payment for leave to 

 pass was made on the 20th by old tonga Panza as by the 

 other Chiboque. I offered the shell presented by Shinte, 

 but Ionga Panza said he was too old for ornaments. We 

 might have succeeded very well with him, for he was by 

 no means unreasonable, and had but a very small village 

 of supporters ; but our two guides from Kangenke com- 

 plicated our difficulties by sending for a body of Bangala 

 traders, with a view to force us to sell the tusks of Sekeletu 

 and pay them with the price. We offered to pay them 

 handsomely, if they would perform their promise of 

 guiding us to Cassange, but they knew no more of the 

 paths than we did ; and my men had paid them re- 

 peatedly, and tried to get rid of them, but could not. 

 They now joined with our enemies, and so did the traders. 

 Two guns and some beads, belonging to the latter, were 

 standing in our encampment, and the guides seized them 

 and ran off. As my men knew that we should be called 

 upon to replace them, they gave chase, and when the guides 

 saw that they would be caught, they threw down the 

 guns, directed their flight to the village, and rushed into 

 a hut. The doorway is not much higher than that of 

 a dog's kennel. One of the guides was reached by one of 

 my men as he was in the act of stooping to get in, and 

 a cut was inflicted on a projecting part of the body which 

 would have made any one in that posture wince. The 

 guns were restored, but the beads were lost in the flight. 

 All I had remaining of my stock of beads could not replace 

 those lost ; and though we explained that we had no 

 part in the guilt of the act, the traders replied that we 

 had brought the thieves into the country ; these were of 

 the Bangala, who had been accustomed to plague the 

 Portuguese in the most vexatious way. We were striving 

 to get a passage through the country, and, feeling anxious 



