ked like a red-herring over green
twigs, and charmed _secundem artem_, I concluded I could cure my fever
more quickly than they could.

Leaving Linyanti, we passed up the Lecambye river into the Barotse
country, and on making inquiries whether Santuru, the Moloiana, had ever
been visited by white men, I could find no vestige of any such visit
before my arrival in 1851.

In our ascent up the River Leeba, we reached the village of Manenko, a
female chief, of whose power of tongue we soon had ample proof. She was
a woman of fine physique, and insisted on accompanying us some distance
with her husband and drummer, the latter thumping most vigorously, until
a heavy, drizzling mist set in and compelled him to desist. Her husband
used various incantations and vociferations to drive away the rain, but
down it poured incessantly, and on our Amazon went, in the very lightest
marching order, and at a pace that few men could keep up with. Being on
ox-back, I kept pretty close to our leader, and asked her why she did
not clothe herself during the rain, and learnt that it is not considered
proper for a chief to appear effeminate. My men, in admiration of her
pedestrian powers, every now and then remarked, "Manenko is a soldier!"
Thoroughly wet and cold, we were all glad when she proposed a halt to
prepare for our night's lodging on the banks of a stream.

_III.--Peril and Patience_

When we arrived at the foot of the Kasai we were badly in want of food,
and there seemed little hope of getting any; one of our guides, however,
caught a light-blue mole and two mice for his supper. Katende, the
chief, sent for me the following morning, and on my walking into his
hut I was told that he wanted a man, a tusk, beads, copper rings, and a
shell as payment for leave to pass through his country. Having humbly
explained our circumstances and that he could not expect to "catch a
humble cow by the horns"--a proverb similar to ours that "You cannot
draw milk out of a stone"--we were told to go home, and he would speak
to us next day. I could not avoid a hearty laugh at the cool impudence
of the savage. Eventually I sent him one of my worst shirts, but added
that when I should reach my own chief naked, and was asked what I had
done with my clothes, I should be obliged to confess I had left them
with Katende.

Passing onwards, we crossed a small rivulet, the Sengko, and another and
larger one with a bridge over it. At the farther end of this st