This attitude of ours was a revelation to our Monsembe neighbours. Here were two white men whom they had taunted with being cowards, women, etc., standing with simply sticks in their hands to oppose a crowd armed with spears and knives. Two white men with sticks only throwing themselves between them and their enemies, and demanding that no blood should be shed on their land. What power had these white men behind them? So astonished were they that they halted in their treacherous attack on their visitors, who, taking advantage of the lull, paddled beyond reach of the uplifted spears, and arrived safely home. After this failure to settle the terms of peace, a go-between (_molekaleku_) was appointed and approved by both parties. He was an outsider of importance and had the confidence of the clans concerned. He arranged the terms of peace: all loot and slaves should be retained by the conquerors; but all the free folk captured should be set at liberty. This go-between selected a neutral place for the ceremony of _blood-brotherhood_, and was pledged that the meeting should take place without a renewal of hostilities by either party. All the preliminaries having been settled the parties met at the place and time appointed; and then a stick called _ndeko_ was procured and carefully scraped, and these scrapings were mixed with salt. The contracting parties—the head-man of each side—clasped each other’s right hand with the _ndeko_ between the palms; some incisions were then made on the arms and the mixture of _ndeko_ scrapings and salt was rubbed on the cuts; each then put his mouth to the incisions on the other’s arm and sucked for a few moments, after which one of the contracting parties took the _ndeko_ stick and struck the wrists and knees of the other, saying: “If ever I break this covenant may I be cursed by having my nose rot off.”[10] Then the other took the _ndeko_ stick, and, performing the same ceremony, he called down the same curse on himself should he ever break the contract. These rites were accompanied by the drinking of much sugar-cane wine, and the whole ceremony was called _tena ndeko_ = to cut the _ndeko_ stick. Footnote 10: Probably lupus. There were a few cases of this disease, and it was regarded as a punishment for faithlessness in observing the oath of blood-brotherhood.