The marauders declined to enter into open action, and we were nearly worn out at the end of a week by chasing an invisible foe, whose villages when we climbed the palisades were always empty, though our arrival five minutes before in front of the defence was invariably saluted by a volley.

They also made their presence felt when we were on the march, by occasional shots. All the paths in the district had traps arranged in them — small dug-out holes, with a spike or arrow fixed point upwards in the bottom, and the whole covered over with a plantain leaf sprinkled with dust or sand, so that it was indistinguishable from the surrounding soil. Every bush or tuft of grass which obstructed the path had a spear placed in it in such a manner that any person pushing through was sure to be wounded. After a week of this