Chap. XVI. 
DELAY—HEAVY EAINS. 
299 
was aiiglit supernatural in it; and had Mr. Murray, who kindly 
brought it from England, seen its popularity among both Mako- 
lolo and Balonda, he would have been gratified with the direc¬ 
tion liis generosity then took. It was the only mode of 
instruction I was ever pressed to repeat. The people came long 
distances, for the express purpose of seeing the objects and 
hearing the explanations. 
One cannot get away quicldy from these chiefs, they Hke to 
have the honour of strangers residing in their villages; here we 
had an additional cause of delay in frequent rains—twenty-four 
hours never elapsed without heavy showers; everything is 
affected by the dampness: surgical instruments become all 
rusty, clothing mildewed, and shoes mouldy; my little tent was 
now so rotten and so full of small holes, that every smart shower 
caused a fine mist to descend on my blanket, and made me fain 
to cover the head with it. Heavy dews lay on everything in 
the morning, even inside the tent; there is only a short time 
of sunshine in the afternoon, and even that is so interrupted by 
thunder-showers that we cannot dry our bedding. 
The winds coming from the north, always bring heavy clouds 
and rain; in the south, the only heavy rains noticed are those 
which come from the north-east or east. The thermometer falls 
as low as 72° when there is no sunshine, though, when the 
weather is fair, the protected thermometer generally rises as 
high as 82°, even in the mornings and evenings. 
24^7i.—We expected to have started to-day, but Samhanza, 
who had been sent off early in the morning for guides, returned 
at midday without them, and drunk. This was the first case of 
real babbling intoxication we had seen in this region. The 
boyaloa, or beer of the country, has more of a stupifying than 
exciting nature; hence the beer-bibbers are great sleepers; 
they may frequently be seen lying on their faces sound asleep. 
This peculiarity of posture was ascribed, by no less an authority 
than Aristotle, to wine, Avlnle those who were sent asleep by 
beer were believed ‘ ^ to lie upon their backs.” 
Sambanza had got into a state of inebriation from indulging 
in mead, similar to that which Shinte presented to us, which is 
much more powerful than ^boyaloa. As far as we could collect 
from his incoherent sentences, Shinte had said, the rain was too 
