204 
WANT OF FOOD. 
of their company, and make a sort >f offer of it to him. 
This lad ought to have done so to me : the rest of the 
party always observed this custom. I felt annoyed at the 
imposition, but the order wo invariably followed in cros* 
ing a river forced mo to submit Tho head of the party 
remained to be ferried over last ; bo, if I had not come to 
terms, I would have been, as I always was in crossing 
rivers which wo could not swim, completely in the power 
of tho enemy. It was but rarely wo could get a head-man 
so witless as to cross a river with us and remain on the 
opposite bank in a convenient position to be seized as a 
hostage in case of my being caught. 
This trick is but one of a numbor equally dishonorable 
which are practised by tribes that lie adjacent to tho moro 
civilized settlements. The Balonda farther east told us, 
by way of warning, that many parties of tho more central 
tribes had at various periods set out, in order to trade with 
tho whito men themselves, instead of through the Mambari, 
but had always been obliged to return without reaching 
their destination, in consequence of so many pretexts being 
invented by tho tribes encountered in tho way for fining 
them of their ivory. 
This ford was in 11° 15' 47" S. latitude, but tho woatherwas 
so excessively cloudy we got no observation for longitude. 
We were now in want of food; for, to tho great surprise 
of my companions, the people of Kangcnko gave nothing 
except by way of sale, and charged the most exorbitant 
prices for the little meal and manioc they brought. The 
enly article of barter my men had was a little fat saved 
from the ox we slaughtered at Katema’s; so I was obliged 
tc give them a portion of tho stock of beads. One day 
(29th) of westing brought us from the Kasai to near the 
village of Katende, and we saw that wo were in a land 
vrhoro no hope could be entertained of getting supplies of 
animal food, for one of our guides caught a light-blue- 
eolorod mole and two mice for his eutpor. Tho care with 
wk icb ho wrapped them up in a leaf and slung them on 
