Numbers Of A Fresh-Water Shell Are Scattered
All Over These Valleys.
The elevations, as I have observed elsewhere,
are of a soft, sandy soil, and the meadows of black, rich
Alluvial loam.
There are many beautiful flowers, and many bees to sip their nectar.
We found plenty of honey in the woods, and saw the stages on which
the Balonda dry their meat, when they come down to hunt and gather
the produce of the wild hives. In one part we came upon
groups of lofty trees as straight as masts, with festoons of orchilla-weed
hanging from the branches. This, which is used as a dye-stuff,
is found nowhere in the dry country to the south. It prefers
the humid climate near the west coast.
A large buffalo was wounded, and ran into the thickest part of the forest,
bleeding profusely. The young men went on his trail;
and, though the vegetation was so dense that no one could have run
more than a few yards, most of them went along quite carelessly,
picking and eating a fruit of the melon family called Mponko.
When the animal heard them approach he always fled,
shifting his stand and doubling on his course in the most cunning manner.
In other cases I have known them to turn back to a point
a few yards from their own trail, and then lie down in a hollow
waiting for the hunter to come up. Though a heavy, lumbering-looking animal,
his charge is then rapid and terrific.
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