[Illustration: THE AUTHOR AND SOME NATIVE COLLECTORS. ] I cannot say that we had any actual threats, but the country round about us was disturbed, and great numbers of the Kabadi people, who had been to trade with Mafulu, and were returning home, began to stream through our camp. They came through in strings, at intervals of an hour or longer. Some of them carried pigs that they had received from the Mafulu people after dances and entertainments. These companies consisted of men, women, and a very few children. Several of them were painted as for a festival, and they always passed through the camp as quickly as possible, taking no notice of us. The Mafulu people used to visit us a good deal with the ostensible purpose of trading, but they always took care to come armed with spears. This I did not like at all, so I directed them to lay down their arms before they entered, and if they came to visit me after dark, I said they must light torches and hail me from the edge of the clearing as they approached. This they did, but they seldom came at night after I had put this restriction on them. The few times, however, that they did come with their torches, the sight was weirdly picturesque as the lights came glinting through the trees, and then congregated at the edge of the clearing, the flickering glare throwing up the lithe, bronze figures of the warriors into fine relief as they stood there waiting for permission to enter the white man’s enclosure. They seemed to have a lot of intimate conversation with our people, although only one of our men knew their language. They were, however, content to do their talking through the interpreter. Before we left, our food had practically run out and we were feeling the pinch very badly. Both Harry and I were growing extremely thin, and we were always taking in reefs in our belts. As regards weight, however, we were in fine walking form. The nerves of my people got no better. Sometimes they would hear the Mafulu people calling, and then they would be on the _qui vive_, thinking something was about to happen; they were, in fact, like men living on a volcano. Before we left we were in such stress that we were compelled to try bird of paradise soup; it was truly abominable, and after the first spoonful we got no further.