472 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
considered it was only an exchange for an intention 
to give me an ox, if I went ten miles out of my 
way, I did not think it worth while to make it a 
costly one. 
At 8 a.m. we were on our way,, and at 9 passed close 
to the hamlets of Chacaonha, inhabited by the first of 
the Ganguella race in West Africa. The Bomba rivulet 
was shortly after forded and we continued along its left 
bank for about a mile and a quarter, when the carriers 
suddenly laid down their loads, saying they would not 
move another step, and demanded payment that they 
might return to their homes. We were then about a 
mile or so from the Cubango, and being very desirous 
of crossing that river, I tried to persuade them to go at 
least that short distance farther, and promised that, so 
soon as I was on the other side, I would pay them 
what was due and dismiss them. My persuasions, how¬ 
ever, had no effect. They gave me to understand that 
the reason of their refusal was the fear of my vengeance 
—that I had been grossly insulted in the village of their 
chief at the Dumbo—and they were convinced that I 
should not spare them if I once got them on the other 
bank of the river and consequently out of their own 
territory. I tried to reason them out of such an absur¬ 
dity, but it was labour in vain. I then refused to pay 
them at all if they did not carry the loads to the other 
side of the river. To this they replied that they would 
rather go without their pay than follow me, and they at 
once called the six girls and bade them come away with 
them. I was at my wits’ end. Within a stone’s throw, 
as it were, was the hamlet of that fellow Cassoma, and 
1 thought I perceived in this business a craftily devised 
plan to betray me into his hands, he having gone on 
before to make his preparations. 
Any loads abandoned in such a place were as good 
as lost beyond redemption, and with this conviction on 
my mind my readers may imagine with what feelings 
I contemplated the departure of the carriers. I turned 
my eyes, in perplexity, towards my goods, and a sudden 
revulsion of feelino; came over me. Seated on one of 
