252 Preparations for the March. 
large open space amongst the houses forming the 
village square. The implement was a roll of 
palm-coir tightly bound with the central fibre of 
the plantain-leaf. The players, two parties of 
some twenty slaves, of all ages and sizes, 'min¬ 
gled, each side striving to catch the ball, and 
with many feints and antics to pass it on to a 
friend. When it fell out of bounds, the juniors 
ran to pick it up with frantic screams. It was 
interesting, as showing the difference between the 
highlander and the lowlander ; one might pass 
years on the Congo plains without seeing so much 
voluntary exertion : yet a similar game of ball is 
described by the Rev. Mr. Waddell (“ Twenty-nine 
years in the West Indies and Central Africa,” 
chap. xvii. London, Nelsons, 1863). The evening 
ended, as it often does before a march, when rest 
is required, with extra hard work, a drinking bout 
deep as the Rhineland baron’s in the good old 
time, and a dance in which both sexes joined. As 
there were neither torches nor moon, I did not 
attend ; the singing, the shouting, and the drum¬ 
ming, which lasted till midnight, spoke well for the 
agility and endurance of the fair montagnardes. 
What lightens Gidi Mavunga’s steps is the 
immediate prospect of the Munlola or preliminary 
showers, which, beginning in mid-September, last, 
with a certain persistence of fall, till October. 
During the Munlola, the sea-breeze is silent, and 
