ause we were a large party, did not
intend to linger, and had a good reputation with natives.

It is very curious how abruptly, in Central Africa, one passes from one
condition to another, from one tribe or race to the next. Sometimes, as
in the present case, it is the traversing of a deep cation; at others
the simple crossing of a tiny brook is enough. Moreover the line of
demarcation is clearly defined, as boundaries elsewhere are never
defined save in wartime.

Thus we smiled our good-bye to a friendly numerous people, descended a
hill, and ascended another into a deserted track. After a half mile we
came unexpectedly on to two men carrying each a load of reeds. These
they abandoned and fled up the hillside through the jungle, in spite of
our shouted assurances. A moment later they reappeared at some distance
above us, each with a spear he had snatched from somewhere; they were
unarmed when we first caught sight of them. Examined through the glasses
they proved to be sullen looking men, copper coloured, but broad across
the cheekbones, broad in the forehead, more decidedly of the negro type
than our late hosts.

Aside from these two men we travelled through an apparently deserted
jungle. I suspect, however, that we were probably well watched; for when
we stopped for noon we heard the gunbearers beyond the screen of leaves
talking to some one. On learning from our boys that these were some of
the shenzis, we told them to bring the savages in for a shauri; but in
this our men failed, nor could they themselves get nearer than fifty
yards or so to the wild people. So until evening our impression remained
that of two distant men, and the indistinct sound of voices behind a
leafy screen.

We made camp comparatively early in a wide open space surrounded by low
forest. Almost immediately then the savages commenced to drift in,
very haughty and arrogant. They were fully armed. Besides the spear and
decorated shield, some of them carried the curious small grass spears.
These are used to stab upward from below, the wielder lying flat in the
grass. Some of these men were fantastically painted with a groundwork
ochre, on which had been drawn intricate wavy designs on the legs,
like stockings, and varied stripes across the face. One particularly
ingenious individual, stark naked, had outlined a roughly entire
skeleton! He was a gruesome object! They stalked here and there through
the camp, looking at our men and their activiti