f Christianity and civilisation among the long benighted
Africans. We observed that the men, women, and children were very busy
in the camp--the women cooking and making arrangements for the night,
while the children were collecting firewood from the neighbouring
thickets. Poor little creatures, I was afraid that some of them might
be carried off by panthers or other beasts of prey who might be prowling
about in the neighbourhood; but their parents seemed to have no such
fear. We were anxious to obtain some more bearers to carry Kate and
Bella, as also to assist us in conveying our goods up the mountain.
Chickango undertook to make the arrangements, and after a good deal of
talking with the chief and then with the people, he pointed out four
young men who expressed themselves ready to accompany us. These
arrangements being made, we encamped on a somewhat higher spot a short
distance from our friends, and soon had huts built such as I have before
described. Though we heard the cries of wild beasts in the forest, none
ventured near us, as we kept up blazing fires all night.

Next morning, even before our party were stirring, the old chief and his
followers were on foot, preparing to continue their march towards the
sea-coast. The men, however, sat still, with their bows in their hands,
talking to each other while the women were employed in packing up their
goods in baskets, which they suspended at their backs, with their
children in many instances on the top of them. All the elder children
also had burdens, but the men walked along with a haughty air, carrying
nothing but their arms in their hands. Saluting us with loud cries,
they proceeded towards the west.

We meantime had been employed in packing up, but instead of making Kate
and Bella carry burdens, we prepared a litter to carry them. Passing
through a dense forest, we saw before us the mountain range we hoped
soon to gain. Near the banks of the stream we passed a grove of curious
trees with short stems, on either side of which projected huge long
leaves with feather-like branches on the top. Amid them was an immense
number of clusters of nuts, each larger than a pigeon's egg. Chickango
ordered one of the men to climb up and bring down a cluster when he saw
us looking at them. On pressing the nuts even with our fingers, a
quantity of oil exuded; and Senhor Silva told us that the tree was the
_Cocos butyracea_, the oil extracted from which is exported in