BETWEEN ANGOLA AND THE ZAMBESI. 
505 
imitation of the perfect weapon turned out by the 
celebrated Portuguese gunsmith. The Bihenos do not 
make use of leaden bullets, which are, they say, too 
heavy, but manufacture iron ones instead. The car¬ 
tridges, which they also make, contain fifteen grammes 
of powder and are nine inches in length. The iron 
bullets are of much smaller diameter than the ordinary 
leaden ones, and weigh scarcely six to seven grammes. 
Being of wrought iron, their shape is rather that of an 
irregular polyhedron than a sphere. The guns thus 
loaded, are, as may well be imagined, of but slight 
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QUIMBANUE MAN AND WOMAN. 
precision, and scarcely carry a distance of a hundred 
yards. The range of the arrow is from fifty to sixty 
yards, but in the hands of the blacks it seldom does 
execution at a greater distance than from twenty-five 
to thirty yards. The assegais are composed entirely of 
iron ; are short and ornamented with sheep’s or goats’ 
hair. They are never thrown—the Biheno in action 
grasping the weapon tightly in his hand. 
I said that the assegai was adorned with sheep’s hair, 
and I may mention, while upon the subject, that the 
sheep in this part of the world have no wool. There 
are two distinct species existing in the country, which 
