BETWEEN ANGOLA AND THE ZAMBESI. 
477 
succeeded in establishing an empire over myself, and 
though lacking time to produce a written code of conduct, 
I formulated one in my mind by which I guided my 
proceedings. My principles were those of natural 
right ; my law, brief but excellent, was summed up in 
the ten precepts of the Decalogue. Let it not be for an 
instant imagined that I put forward any claim to cano¬ 
nisation, or that I pretend to have rigorously followed 
the precepts laid down in the twentieth chapter of the 
sublime Book of Exodus, certainly the most beautiful of 
the Pentateuch; but I did my best not to depart too 
widely from them, and in so doing I did well. If this 
digression do not greatly help on the narrative, it may 
at least be useful in awakening some chord in the heart 
of future explorers, and to them it is in all heartiness 
addressed. 
To resume. 
During the day a great many negroes came about us 
offering for sale various articles of food, of the usual 
kind, but there was one comestible which was singular 
enough to deserve a passing notice. A large basket 
displayed a quantity of caterpillars, very similar to the 
Acherontia alropos, and of the same size. This gigantic 
lepidopter, when young, feeds upon the grasses and is 
then easily caught. The Ganguellas devour it rave¬ 
nously, but my own men refused to touch it. On the 
following morning, at the first appearance of daylight, a 
good many more carriers presented themselves; but, as 
I had already my number, I was compelled to dismiss 
them. I left about ten o’clock, by which hour the rain 
had fortunately held up. Just as I was starting I had 
the ill-luck to break my spectacles, which I had worn 
ever since I left Lisbon. Our course was N.E., and 
after five hours’ tramp we pitched our tents on the left 
bank of the river Cutato dos Ganguellas, the stream 
being passed by stepping-stones a little above a small 
cataract. 
On the road we forded a petty brook called Chimbui- 
coque, an affluent of the Cutato. At that point the 
river runs eastward, bending subsequently to the north 
