On questioning the Mambari they were answered that English manufactures came out of the sea, and beads were gathered on its shore.

To Africans our cotton mills are fairy dreams.

"How can the irons spin, weave, and print so beautifully ?" Our country is like what Taprobane was to our ancestors--a strange realm of light, whence came the diamond, muslin, and peacocks; an attempt at explanation of our manufactures usually elicits the expression, "Truly ye are gods!" When about to leave the Makondo, one of my men had dreamed that Mosantu was shut up a prisoner in a stockade: this dream depressed the spirits of the whole party, and when I came out of my little tent in the morning, they were sitting the pictures of abject sorrow.

I asked if we were to be guided by dreams, or by the authority I derived from Sekeletu, and ordered them to load the boats at once; they seemed ashamed to confess their fears; the Makololo picked up courage and upbraided the others for having such superstitious views, and said this was always their way; if even a certain bird called to them, they would turn back from an enterprise, saying it was unlucky.

They entered the canoes at last, and were the better of a little scolding for being inclined to put dreams before authority.