886 
NYAMPUNGO, THE RAIN -CHARMER. 
the powerful rays of the sun, we wero all completely tirea 
out. He likewiso gavo us a bad character at overv village 
wo passed, calling to them that they wore to allow him to 
load us astray, as wo wero a bad set. Sckwcbn know 
©very word ho said, and, as ho became intolerable, I dis- 
missed him, giving him six foot of calico I had bought from 
native tradors, and tolling him that his tongue was a 
nuisance. It is in gonoral best, when a scolding is neces- 
sary, to give it in combination with a present, and then end 
it by good wishes. This follow wont off smiling; and my 
men romarked, “ His tongue is curod now.” 
13th . — The head-man of thoso parts is named Nyampungo. 
I sent the last fragment of cloth wo had, with a request 
that wo should bo furnished with a guido to the next chief. 
After a long conference with his council, the eloth was 
returned with a promiso of compliance and a request for 
some beads only. This man is supposed to possess the 
iharm for rain, and other tribes send to him to bog it. 
This shows that what wo inferred beforowas correct, —that 
less rain falls in this country than in Londa. Nyampungo 
behaved in quite a gentlemanly manner, presented mo 
with somo rice, and told my people to go among all the 
villages and beg for themselves. An old man, father-in-law 
of the chief, told me that he had seen books beforo, but 
never knew what they meant. They pray to departed 
chiefs and relatives, but the idea of praying to God seemed 
new, and they hoard it with rcveronco. As this was an 
intelligent old man, I asked him about the silver; but he 
was as ignorant of it as the rest, and said, “ Wo never dug 
silver, but wo havo washed for gold in the sands of the 
rivors Mazoo and Luia, which unito in the Lnenya.” I 
think that this is quito conclusive on the question of no 
silver having been dug by the natives of this district. 
Nyampungo is afflicted with a kind of disease called So 
sonda, which I imagine to bo a species of leprosy commoi 
in this quarter, — though I hcy are a cleanly peoplo. Thoy 
never had cattle. The chiefs father had always lived ir 
