The luggage
can be fetched afterwards."
Within less than an hour we were at that wharf off which the /Maria/
lay in what one day will be the splendid port of Durban, though in
those times its shipping arrangements were exceedingly primitive. A
strange-looking band we must have been. I, who was completely dressed,
and I trust tidy, marched ahead. Next came Hans in the filthy wide-
awake hat which he usually wore and greasy corduroys and after him the
oleaginous Sammy arrayed in European reach-me-downs, a billy-cock and
a bright blue tie striped with red, garments that would have looked
very smart had it not been for his recent immersion. After him
followed the fierce-looking Mavovo and his squad of hunters, all of
whom wore the "ring" or /isicoco/, as the Zulus call it; that is, a
circle of polished black wax sewn into their short hair. They were a
grim set of fellows, but as, according to a recent law it was not
allowable for them to appear armed in the town, their guns had already
been shipped, while their broad stabbing spears were rolled up in
their sleeping mats, the blades wrapped round with dried grass.
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