I advised the chief, whose name we did not learn, as he did not deign to appear except under the alias Matiamvo, to get cattle for his own use, and expressed sorrow that I had none wherewith to enable him to make a commencement.

Rains prevented our proceeding till Thursday morning, and then messengers appeared to tell us that their chief had learned that all the cloth sent by him had not been presented; that the copper rings had been secreted by the persons ordered to restore them to us, and that he had stripped the thievish emissaries of their property as a punishment.

Our guides thought these were only spies of a larger party, concealed in the forest through which we were now about to pass.

We prepared for defense by marching in a compact body, and allowing no one to straggle far behind the others.

We marched through many miles of gloomy forest in gloomier silence, but nothing disturbed us.