146 
Seven Years in Central Africa. 
[Nov, 
look after the carriers ; twenty-one men porters, and four boys ; 
besides those who merely travel with me for their own con- 
venience — namely, six natives of Garenganze, sent out by their 
chief to hunt up trade, who willingly accompany me; and a 
mulatto, sent by a Portuguese trader to exchange a little cloth 
and powder for ivory : he has three or four men to take his loads. 
Another mulatto, father of one of my carriers, goes to see if he 
can get some work from the Garenganze chief in the way of 
sewing. A few other Biheans, who go to trade in different parts, 
make the company about sixty. 
wth. — Made an early start this morning; followed along the 
course of the Kaluja river, reaching a few villages known as 
Kasombo. 
\2th. — Remained here buying food, as the country on ahead 
is said to be very destitute of it. These villages of Kasombo 
are inhabited by Valoimbe people, the last of the tribe in this 
direction. They are on the whole a fine-looking people, and 
have a serious, self-possessed air about them. Large, intelligent- 
looking foreheads, and very fantastically-dressed hair, are con- 
spicuous among them. 
13M. — Travelled for seven hours to-day through a country 
almost entirely void of man or beast. Camped by the side of 
a deserted village ; people all gone to the south. 
\a^th. — Seven hours' further journey through beautiful country; 
crossed three good-sized rivers (unknown to map-makers), and 
camped by the Yalowa. No signs of inhabitants anywhere. 
THE CHIBOKWE COUNTRY. 
November i^th. — Met travellers going west, and sent a letter 
to Benguella. 
We are now in the Chibokwe country. The people I have 
met thus far seem to be wholly devoted to procuring beeswax; 
and when out hunting for it, they live for weeks almost entirely 
on the honey. They also make a drink from the honey, a kind of 
mead, the honey being mixed with water and fermented in large 
calabashes. As they drink this warm in the morning it keeps 
them in a half-dazed condition all day. They extract the wax 
from the comb by a simple process of boiling, and then put it 
through a sieve made from bark fibre, by beating and rubbing. 
