leave
for two days, but as soon as it became fair we continued our march. The
heavy dew upon the high grass was so cold as to cause shivering, and I
was forced to lie by for eight days, tossing and groaning with violent
pain in the head. This was the most severe attack I had endured. It made
me quite unfit to move, or even know what was passing outside my little
tent. Senhor Pascoal, who had been detained by the severe rain at a
better spot, at last came up, and, knowing that leeches abounded in the
rivulets, procured a number, and applied some dozens to the nape of
the neck and the loins. This partially relieved the pain. He was then
obliged to move forward, in order to purchase food for his large party.
After many days I began to recover, and wished to move on, but my men
objected to the attempt on account of my weakness. When Senhor
Pascoal had been some time at the village in front, as he had received
instructions from his employer, Captain Neves, to aid me as much as
possible, and being himself a kindly-disposed person, he sent back two
messengers to invite me to come on, if practicable.

It happened that the head man of the village where I had lain twenty-two
days, while bargaining and quarreling in my camp for a piece of meat,
had been struck on the mouth by one of my men. My principal men paid
five pieces of cloth and a gun as an atonement; but the more they
yielded, the more exorbitant he became, and he sent word to all the
surrounding villages to aid him in avenging the affront of a blow on the
beard. As their courage usually rises with success, I resolved to
yield no more, and departed. In passing through a forest in the country
beyond, we were startled by a body of men rushing after us. They began
by knocking down the burdens of the hindermost of my men, and several
shots were fired, each party spreading out on both sides of the path. I
fortunately had a six-barreled revolver, which my friend Captain Henry
Need, of her majesty's brig "Linnet", had considerately sent to Golungo
Alto after my departure from Loanda. Taking this in my hand, and
forgetting fever, I staggered quickly along the path with two or three
of my men, and fortunately encountered the chief. The sight of the six
barrels gaping into his stomach, with my own ghastly visage looking
daggers at his face, seemed to produce an instant revolution in his
martial feelings, for he cried out, "Oh! I have only come to speak to
you, and wish peace only.