208 
A Specimen Day 
this people, and probably a native invention, not 
borrowed, as might be supposed, from Europe, is 
carried only when hunting or fighting : a speci¬ 
men was exhibited in London with the gorillas. 
The people are said sometimes to bend it with 
the foot or feet like the Tupi Guaranis, the Jivaros, 
and other South Americans. Suffice it to remark 
of this weapon, with which, by the by, I never 
saw a decent shot made, that the ditente is simple 
and ingenious, and that the “ Ebe ” or dwarf bolt 
is always poisoned with the boiled root of a wild 
shrub. It is believed that a graze is fatal, and 
that the death is exceedingly painful : I doubt 
both assertions. Most men also carry a pliable 
basket full of bamboo caltrops, thin splints, 
pointed and poisoned. Placed upon the path of a 
bare-footed enemy, this rude contrivance, com¬ 
bined with the scratching of the thorns, and the 
gashing cuts of the grass, must somewhat dis¬ 
courage pursuit. The shields of elephant hide 
are large, square, and ponderous. The “ terrible 
war-axe ” is the usual poor little tomahawk, more 
like a toy than a tool. 
After a bathe in the muddy Mbokwe, I returned 
to the village, and found it in a state of ferment. 
The Fa^, like all inner African tribes, with whom 
fighting is our fox-hunting, live in a chronic state 
of ten days’ war, and can never hold themselves 
safe ; this is the case especially where the slave trade 
