182 
WEDDING ENTERTAINMENT. 
habitations. It was impossible for us to sleep, because the firing 
of muskets by the people at the wedding feast disturbed a troop 
of large apes, which never ceased barking* through the whole 
night. My horse was so tormented by thirst that he would no 
longer graze, and I was in danger of losing this valuable com- 
panion of my travels. No one would lead him to the water, 
for fear of meeting with lions, who repair thither to drink. I 
soon determined what to do ; I slipped a few balls into my 
gun, and accompanied by Maka, went to the perilous spot 
nivself. A more ao-reeable situation I never beheld, and but 
for the fear of wild beasts I should have remained there longer, 
for the moon-light enabled me to contemplate the beauty of 
the place. The spring issued from a rock, situated in the 
middle of a ravine, where the blossom of the gum-trees shed a 
delicious perfume. This spring formed a Kttle rivulet, on the 
banks of which furnaces were constructed for smelting iron. 
When I returned, a confused noise which I heard made 
me suppose, that the bride was going to quit her parents, and 
to be delivered to her husband. I quickened my pace, and 
witnessed the grief of this young female ; I found her wrapped 
in cloths, more plainly attired than her companions, and lying 
between the knees of her mother. The old men and women 
encircled them, and the grandfathers and grandmothers were 
seated by their sides. The girls danced and repeated the 
* This is the cry of apes in this part of Africa. 
