Manenko gave us some manioc-roots in the morning, and had determined to carry our baggage to her uncle's, Shinte. We bad heard a sample of what she could do with her tongue; and as neither my men nor myself had much inclination to encounter this black virago, we proceeded to make ready the packages; but she said the men whom she had ordered for the service would not arrive until to-morrow. I felt annoyed at this further delay, and ordered the packages to be put into the canoes at once; but Manenko was not to be circumvented in this way; she came forward with her people, seized the luggage, and declared that she would carry it in spite of me. My men succumbed and left me powerless. I was moving off in high dudgeon to the canoes, when she kindly placed her hand on my shoulder, and, with a motherly look, said, "Now, my little man, just do as the rest have done." My feelings of annoyance of course vanished, and I went out to try for some meat.
The only kinds of game to be found in these parts are, the zebra, the kualata or tahetsi (Aigoceros equina), kama (Bubalus caama), buffaloes, and the small antelope hakiténwe (Philantomba). They are very shy, and can be seen only by following on their trail for many miles. Urged by hunger, we followed some zebras during the greater part of the day: we got within fifty yards of them in a dense thicket, and I had made sure of one, when to my infinite disgust the gun missed fire, and off they bounded. The climate is so damp that the powder in the gun-nipples cannot be kept dry. It is curious to mark the intelligence of the game; in districts where they are much annoyed by fire-arms they keep out on the most open country they can find, in order to have a widely-extended range of vision; but here, where they are killed by the arrows of the Balonda, they select for safety the densest forest, where the arrow cannot be easily shot. This variation may indeed be partly owing to the greater heat of the sun, which is here particularly overpowering. However it is to be accounted for, the wild animals here certainly frequent the forests by day even when there is no sunshine, while those farther south generally shun these covers.
