NATIVES OF AFRICA. 
Ill 
been hired for a term of six months; and it was nearly seven months after 
their departure that they resumed their march without these persons. It 
was to occupy almost two months, before they came upon the lake which 
it was their intention to explore. We quote again from Burton: 
“On the 13th of February we resumed our travel through screens of 
lofty grass, which thinned out into a straggling forest. After about an 
hour’s march, as we entered a small savannah, I saw the fundi running 
AFRICANS DEFORMING THEMSELVES FOR STYLE. 
forward and changing the direction of the caravan. Without supposing 
that he had taken upon himself this responsibility, I followed him. Pres¬ 
ently he breasted a steep and stony hill, sparsely clad with thorny trees. 
Arrived with toil, for our fagged beasts now refused to proceed, we 
halted for a few minutes upon the summit. ‘What is that streak of 
light which lies below ? ’ I inquired of Seedy Bombay. ‘ I am of opinion, ’ 
quoth Bombay, ‘that that is the water.’ I gazed in dismay; the remains 
of my blindness, the veil of trees, and a broad ray of sunshine illuminat¬ 
ing but one reach of the lake bend, shrunk its fair proportions. Some¬ 
what prematurely, I began to lament my folly in having risked life and 
