We were informed that there is a child belonging to a half-caste Portuguese in one of these tribes, and the father had tried in vain to get him from the mother’s parents.  We saw several things to confirm the impression of the higher position which women hold here; and, being anxious to discover if I were not mistaken, when we came among the Portuguese I inquired of them, and was told that they had ascertained the same thing; and that, if they wished a man to perform any service for them, he would reply, “Well, I shall go and ask my wife.”  If she consented, he would go, and perform his duty faithfully; but no amount of coaxing or bribery would induce him to do it if she refused.  The Portuguese praised the appearance of the Banyai, and they certainly are a fine race.

We got on better with Nyakoba than we expected.  He has been so much affected by the sesenda that he is quite decrepit, and requires to be fed.  I at once showed his messenger that we had nothing whatever to give.  Nyakoba was offended with him for not believing me, and he immediately sent a basket of maize and another of corn, saying that he believed my statement, and would send men with me to Tete who would not lead me to any other village.

The birds here sing very sweetly, and I thought I heard the canary, as in Londa.  We had a heavy shower of rain, and I observed that the thermometer sank 14 Deg. in one hour afterward.  From the beginning of February we experienced a sensible diminution of temperature.  In January the lowest was 75 Deg., and that at sunrise; the average at the same hour (sunrise) being 79 Deg.; at 3 P.M., 90 Deg.; and at sunset, 82 Deg.  In February it fell as low as 70 Deg. in the course of the night, and the average height was 88 Deg.  Only once did it rise to 94 Deg., and a thunder-storm followed this; yet the sensation of heat was greater now than it had been at much higher temperatures on more elevated lands.

We passed several villages by going roundabout ways through the forest.  We saw the remains of a lion that had been killed by a buffalo, and the horns of a putokwane (black antelope), the finest I had ever seen, which had met its death by a lion.  The drums, beating all night in one village near which we slept, showed that some person in it had finished his course.  On the occasion of the death of a chief, a trader is liable to be robbed, for the people consider themselves not amenable to law until a new one is elected.  We continued a very winding course, in order to avoid the chief Katolosa, who is said to levy large sums upon those who fall into his hands.  One of our guides was a fine, tall young man, the very image of Ben Habib the Arab.  They were carrying dried buffalo’s meat to the market at Tete as a private speculation.