tributary of the Buzi; which forms in its course almost a circle, thickly studded with fine timber and bush, and they do not extend much beyond the river towards the east, which is a low, flat country to the sea. The Portuguese have no control over any part of Umzela's territory; they only hold possession of narrow slips of land along parts of the coast. The natives offered no opposition to my visits, and were willing to barter food for articles of clothing, principally linen cloth; but in many other portions of the country I had to use great caution to prevent suspicion as to the object of my visits. In many cases I have passed through tribes who would have been troublesome, but as I took goods to barter I was considered a trader, and as such one can journey almost anywhere. Some considered also I was a doctor or medicine-man, because I caught and preserved insects, snakes, and other small reptiles, besides plants. When this idea takes possession of some of the African races, they leave you unmolested; any injury they might inflict would be considered unlucky to themselves. I used to carry representations of snakes of wood, that are sold in England, and masks with extensive noses, so that when the natives came round my waggon begging, as they frequently did, from two to three hundred at a time, I would draw down the front sail of the waggon, slip inside, put on one of these masks, and with the snake curling about in my hand jump out in their midst, when the women and children would rush away howling, the men after them, to their kraals, and I would be left free from annoyance. During my stay at their station, before I could obtain these things, I used a large burning-glass, and when any one troubled me, would burn their hand until it began to pain. Then I would run after others, which soon cleared them off. Travelling past their kraals so frequently they knew my waggon, and if they pestered me for presents I had only to get out my sun-glass, and they were away in no time.