natives in the above rude way; and this is the extent of their knowledge in ironwork.

The women have no needlework. The men, if they make a web in the loom, sew it all themselves; but the former are very neat-handed at working in straw and matting. They grind the corn and attend to the house. There is no fine earthenware, such as cups and plates, in the country; they are not requisite. Straw or wooden ones suffice to hold water, beer, or vegetables; and European pots and kettles are represented by earthen gurrahs, like a sphere with a slice off it. Salt is extracted from the soil, as practised in Uhiao, and is considered better than that taken from the ashes of plants.

The forest at this dry season did not afford any amusement in its flora: everything was in a dormant state, and few or no flowers could be gathered, except some jasmine-scented bushes in the stream-bed; the beautiful little seeds of the abrus peeping out of their open curled-up pods, and the plant twining delicately round a small tree; some thorny bushes of a vermilion flowering-shrub, and large umbrageous trees of the ficus order, used for bird-lime by the natives; several sweet plums now ripe, but nearly all stone. The most useful tree to the natives here is the Miombo; it makes a brilliant fire, and lasts the whole night, just to suit the African, who luxuriates in its heat. Most of the trees are bare-poled, admirably adapted for palisade purposes, and seldom heavier than can be carried by two men. The wands from the Miombo, a kind of banyan, afford the natives the fibre which they attach to their wool. Its manufacture is simple : split the wand longitudinally, separate the inner from

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the outer bark, and chew it well till the next wand is ready; use soon blackens it. Every tree and fruit has its separate name and use in this country.

The sultan owned three hundred milch cows, yet every day there was a difficulty about purchasing milk, and we were obliged to boil it that it might keep, for fear we should have none the following day. This practice the natives objected to, saying, "The cows will stop their milk if you do so." The calves drank most of it. Butter, except when rancid, we could not procure, the people using it for smearing their persons. They seldom had butcher-meat for their dinners, preferring to economise their cattle; and on my informing them that a cow lay in a neighbouring jungle with its leg broken, and ought to be cared for, a party, headed by the sultan's son, went at night, killed the animal, and brought over the carcass. It had belonged to another village. They kill all their animals with bludgeons, hunting them down through lanes and amongst houses. The goat's head is twisted; it never is killed as is done in this country, because it is thought the skin would thereby be injured for wear. The dogs are no better than the pariahs of India, and quite as prolific; a favourite, which was fed by me daily, had twelve pups, two of which were drowned. Pet pigeons, of the ordinary dovecot sort, flew in circles round the village, or would evince alarm at the sight of a large bird.

We met with no new wild animals here, and killed no lions. The natives used to trap game by means of nooses and pitfalls, and the lads of several villages would assemble with dogs, horns, and spears, to have a battue of the different forests-partridges, hares, coneys, and sometimes antelopes, being the result. In

my morning walks (I could not leave the property for a single day's shooting) after guinea-fowl, when they had become so wild that a rifle was necessary, I once stumbled across two full-sized rhinoceros; both attempted to run up to me, but at 20 yards' distance turned off, showing their full lengths, hobbling in their canter like little pigs, the leader with cocked tail. A steady aim at the shoulder had no effect, and in case he might charge, I looked for my shot-gun, but my two followers were in full flight. They had observed the animals, and had been calling out to me to take care, but allowed me to go right upon them without a stalk. We tracked, and found that the two had separated. All animals wander so, that you never know which to keep in your hand, the gun or rifle. I was fortunate in knocking over with shot a light bay hornless female antelope, which was new to me: it had four white cuts across its saddle, the spinal ridge and inside of legs white, spotted sides, and tail a tuft of long hair. Altogether I was proud of my prize, as there was nothing whatever in the larder. My single follower made many excuses that he was not able to carry it home, but I assisted till close up to the village, when I was ordered to go and ask whether the sultan would allow it inside, my attendant saying, "Wezees generally have an aversion to it." "M'weeko"-i.e., "it's not customary;" "it's a 'phongo,"" "never eaten," &c. Disgusted at having wasted two charges of English shot upon it, I thought there was a chance for me through the sultan. He looked surprised, and flew into such a rage, that the men round him had to explain-“ If you eat it you'll lose your fingers and toes, get scab all over, and if it has spat on you the part will be

come a sore." I begged that the skin might be allowed inside the village; no, not the skin even, nor its tail, so I could only sketch the animal. By-and-by a native caravan, carrying loads of salt, arrived, and the men were glad to get it to eat. Our Seedees said it was called the "bawala" in their country, and was never eaten; but to look at, it was as nice as any antelope I had ever seen. The smaller animals were N'geeree, a pig which the Wezee is very fond of: wells are dug by them in the forests. Another animal of the same size, but which it is not customary to eat, is the N'grooweh; and from the description given of it, it must be an antelope, having no tusks, but teeth like a goat and hair like a buffalo. There are also wild-cats, deep brown, and barred across-very bold, fearless-looking creatures. Troops of that beautiful little animal the mongoose, which becomes so tame in the house, we saw searching for water: they are called "goozeeroo." Their dark bodies are barred across to the tip of the tail. On one of them being wounded by a bullet, another commenced to tear it with the greatest viciousness.

Lions and lynxes are considered the sole property of the sultan, and form part of his right and revenue. When carried in, lashed on a frame on men's shoulders and placed at his door, drums are beat, the women shout, great excitement prevails, and a dance usually takes place about the carcass. I had the curiosity to measure the length of one lion, and found it was three steps from the root of the tail to the nose, and in passing round it I was said to have subjected myself to a fine of two fathoms calico; but this I refused, and never pay, because I had not stepped over it. The putrid

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flesh is cut in pieces, and boiled by the sultan in person. All the grease is preserved as valuable magic medicine, the tail and paws are hung over his doorway, and the skin, skilfully pegged out in the sun to dry, is prepared for the sultan's wear, as no one else dare use it. The colour of a young male lion was a pale ochre, with distinct dark spots on his hind-legs. The lynx is even more highly prized than the lion, though only the size of, and a little heavier than, an English fox, with a stumpy, short, curled-back dog-tail, and tips of hair to his black ears. He has immense, powerful, thicklyformed little arms, great length of body, and is said by the natives to kill even the lion and buffalo. This I believe, for he gives one the idea of bull-dog courage. He is said to watch his prey from a tree. The colour of the lynx is a dusty red, indistinctly spotted; a perfect cat's head; white round the eyes and underneath the body. The ceremony observed on the arrival of either a lion or lynx is curious :-The sultan, sultana, and the sultan's wife next in rank, sit on stools placed in the open air, with the dead animal in front of them, the crowd all round, squatted or standing. A small lump of serpent-dung is made into a paste with water upon a stone. Spots of this white ointment are placed by the sultan's own hands upon the forehead, chest, tips of shoulders, instep, and palms of hands of himself and the two wives, and drums and dancing continue afterwards for some hours. The serpent-dung is supposed to have the charm of bringing plenty, or "burkut," to a house, because it gives many young. No one but kings may make use of it.

Vultures always hover where a dead body is thrown out of the village into the grass. This did not prevent