I explained that I had become sick by living in a little hut at Molemba; that I was better in the open air; that huts contained vermin; and that I did not mean to remain any while here, but go on our way.

He pressed us to come to his village, and gave us a goat and kid, with a huge calabashful of beer.

I promised to go over and visit him next day; and went accordingly.
_23rd February, 1867._--Moamba's village was a mile off, and on the left bank of the Merenge, a larger stream than the Merungu flowing north and having its banks and oozes covered with fine, tall, straight, evergreen trees.

The village is surrounded with a stockade, and a dry ditch some fifteen or twenty feet wide, and as many deep.

I had a long talk with Moamba, a big, stout, public-house-looking person, with a slight outward cast in his left eye, but intelligent and hearty.