Had we been born in similar
untoward circumstances - we tremble to think of it!
The weddings are celebrated with as much jollity as weddings are
anywhere. We witnessed one in the house of our friend the Padre. It
being the marriage of his goddaughter, he kindly invited us to be
partakers in his joy; and we there became acquainted with old Donna
Engenia, who was a married wife and had children, when the slaves
came from Cassange, before any of us were born. The whole merry-
making was marked by good taste amid propriety.
About the only interesting object in the vicinity of Tette is the
coal a few miles to the north. There, in the feeders of the stream
Revubue, it crops out in cliff sections. The seams are from four to
seven feet in thickness; one measured was found to be twenty-five
feet thick.
Learning that it would be difficult for our party to obtain food
beyond Kebrabasa before the new crop came in and knowing the
difficulty of hunting for so many men in the wet season, we decided
on deferring our departure for the interior until May, and in the
mean time to run down once more to the Kongone, in the hopes of
receiving letters and despatches from the man-of-war that was to call
in March.
