DEPARTURE UNATTACKED. 339 



what we want — only begin then ; " or with clenched teeth 

 they wonld exclaim to each other, " These things have 

 never travelled, and do not know what men are." The 

 worrying, of which I give only a slight sketch, had con- 

 siderable influence on my own mind, and more especially 

 as it was impossible to make any allowance for the Bashinje, 

 such as I was willing to award to the Chiboque. They 

 saw that we had nothing to give, nor would they be 

 benefited in the least, by enforcing the impudent order to 

 return whence we had come. They were adding insult to- 

 injury, and this put us all into a fighting spirit, and, as. 

 nearly as we could judge, we expected to be obliged tO' 

 cut our way through the Bashinje next morning. 



3rd April. — As soon as day dawned we were astir, and, 

 setting off in a drizzling rain, passed close to the village. 

 This rain probably damped the ardour of the robbers. 

 We, however, expected to be fired upon from every clump 

 of trees, or from some of the rocky hillocks among which 

 we were passing ; and it was only after two hours' march 

 that we began to breathe freely, and my men remarked, in 

 thankf ulness, " We are children of Jesus." We continued 

 our course, notwithstanding the rain, across the bottom 

 of the Quango valley, which we found broken by clay 

 shale rocks jutting out, though lying nearly horizontally. 

 The grass in all the hollows, at this time quite green, was 

 about two feet higher than my head while sitting on ox- 

 back. This grass, wetted by the rain, acted as a shower- 

 bath on one side of our bodies ; and some deep gullies, 

 full of discoloured water, completed the cooling process. 

 We passed many villages during this drenching, one of 

 which possessed a flock of sheep ; and after six hours we 

 came to a stand near the river Quango (lat. 9 53' S., long. 

 1 8° 37' E.), which may be called the boundary of the 

 Portuguese claims to territory on the west. As I had now 

 no change of clothing, I was glad to cower under the 

 shelter of my blanket, thankful to God for his goodness in 

 bringing us so far, without losing one of the party. 



4th April. — We were now on the banks of the Quango,, 

 a river one hundred and fifty yards wide, and very deep. 

 The water was discoloured — a circumstance which we had 

 observed in no river in I/onda or in the Makololo country. 

 This fine river flows among extensive meadows clothed 

 with gigantic grass and reeds, and in a direction nearly 

 north. 



