600 
THE SPOTTED HYAENA, 
Chap. XXIX. 
declined, none of them would engage. A certain part of the 
elephant belonged to him by right of the office he held, and such 
was the faith in medicine held by the slaves of the Portuguese 
whom we met hunting, that they offered to pay this man hand¬ 
somely, if he would show them the elephant medicine. 
When near Mosusa’s village we passed a rivulet called Chowe, 
now running with rain-water. The inhabitants there, extract a 
little salt from the sand when it is dry, and all the people of the 
adjacent country come to purchase it from them. This was the 
first salt we had met with since leaving Angola, for none is to he 
found in either the country of the Balonda or Barotse; hut we 
heard of salt-pans about a fortnight west of Naliele, and I got a 
small supply from Mpololo while there. That had long since been 
finished, and I had again lived two months without salt, suffering 
no inconvenience except an occasional longing for animal food or 
milk. 
In marching along, the rich reddish-brown soil was so clammy, 
that it was very difficult to walk. It is, however, extremely fertile, 
and the people cultivate amazing quantities of com, maize, millet, 
ground-nuts, pumpkins, and cucumbers. We observed that, when 
plants failed in one spot, they were in the habit of transplanting 
them into another, and they had also grown large numbers of 
young plants on the islands, where they are favoured by moisture 
from the river, and were now removing them to the mainland. 
The fact of theff being obliged to do this shows that there is less 
rain here than in Londa, for there we observed the grain in aU 
stages of its growth at the same time. 
The people here build their huts in gardens on high stages. 
This is necessary on account of danger from the spotted hysena, 
which is said to be very fierce, and also as a protection against 
lions and elephants. The hysena is a very cowardly animal, 
but frequently approaches persons lying asleep, and makes an 
ugly gash on the face. Mozinkwa had lost his upper lip in this 
way, and I have heard of men being killed by them; children 
too are sometimes carried off; for though he is so cowardly that 
the human voice will make him run away at once, yet, when his 
teeth are in the flesh, he holds on, and shows amazing power of 
jaw. Leg-bones of oxen, from which the natives have extracted 
the marrow and everything eatable, are by this animal crunched 
