barbarians, for they clearly understood the use of roast hog. At this place I collected a number of old Pepohoan words which appear in the vocabularies in the Appendix.
Next morning we resumed our journey under the guidance of Goona, the youngest son of our host. Goona was a pure young savage, full of laughter and frolic, wearing a crown of ferns on his head and little else by way of clothing. We were now descending a narrow path to the dry bed of the river, when our progress was arrested by a yellowish snake about seven feet long, which shot out his head across our track. I struck him over the neck with a heavy bamboo staff which I had in my hand. On this the reptile rolled down the bank, and when we had completed the descent we found him again, lodged beneath a boulder. Aided by one or two natives I managed to topple the mass over, and then our enemy made another dart forward, — I dealt him another blow and despatched him. I should have carried him off, but he was too big to be easily disposed of, so I left him to be devoured by the Pepohoans, who are said to be fond of snakes. I was anxious to cross the river, but was urged not to do so, as two men had been killed by a hostile tribe about a month before, just opposite where we stood.
I obtained some good types of the aboriginal tribes in this quarter, and managed also to photograph the scenery. About two o'clock we set out again to walk to Lakoli, which lay some twelve miles off. At one place we crossed a small stream of strongly alkaline water, and here, on the banks, some alkali, soda or potash, had crystallised in such quantities as to resemble a recent fall of snow. The banks of the main stream now towered more than 200 feet above the dry bed, and alternating strata of clay and boulders could be distinctly seen. Before us
