418 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
get canoes to proceed down the Shire ! I would try them. 
It was my only chance. 
At the back of the house the scene wore a more lively 
aspect, for great camp fires were blazing merrily. The 
Angoni, being very clannish, were crouched over the 
friendly flames, evidently indulging in a big talk. The 
Maravi were seated beside them. 
Much now depended on the straightforwardness of 
Mara, and I called him into the house, where by this time 
I had the cloth ready torn off in pieces of the recpiired 
length. 
O 
“ Os Angoni fugirao ! ” (the Angoni will run) were his 
first words. 
Explaining the position occupied some time. My 
guide, philosopher, and friend, was in one of his thwart¬ 
ing, antagonistic moods. It would have been beyond 
the powers of persuasion to induce any of the Angoni to 
carry a letter ; for such a burden would unquestionably 
be thought a bewitching element of extraordinary power 
in a mischievous direction. Sufficient indeed to cause 
the sun to hide its face would be this white leaf from the 
white-skinned mystery. 
The letter was therefore wrapped around the gold, and 
along with two or three handfuls of rubbish, tied up 
tightly in a piece of blue calico. When this had been 
done, the headman of the Angoni was summoned. 
“ You see that the white men lived here,” I said. “ Do 
the black men live in houses such as these ? Stay with 
me. To-morrow, we will go one day to the east, to 
the villages of the Nyanja people. Then you may leave 
J? 
me. 
The cloth, part of what I owed them, was then given. 
An awkward circumstance was that they would not take 
the pink calico I found, saying that Chikuse or his son 
were the only people who could adopt that colour, so I 
had to sacrifice the remaining yards of blue calico, which 
was accepted with avidity. Then I repeated that they 
should wait to take me to the Nyanja villages. The 
small blue bundle was given to the headman (for I dare 
not risk their going back without a note to da Costa), 
