A large reddish spider (’Mygale’) obtains its food in a different manner than either patiently waiting in ambush or by catching it with a bound.  It runs about with great velocity in and out, behind and around every object, searching for what it may devour, and, from its size and rapid motions, excites the horror of every stranger.  I never knew it to do any harm except frightening the nervous, and I believe few could look upon it for the first time without feeling himself in danger.  It is named by the natives “selali”, and is believed to be the maker of a hinged cover for its nest.  You see a door, about the size of a shilling, lying beside a deep hole of nearly similar diameter.  The inside of the door lying upward, and which attracts your notice, is of a pure white silky substance, like paper.  The outer side is coated over with earth, precisely like that in which the hole is made.  If you try to lift it, you find it is fastened by a hinge on one side, and, if it is turned over upon the hole, it fits it exactly, and the earthy side being then uppermost, it is quite impossible to detect the situation of the nest.  Unfortunately, this cavity for breeding is never seen except when the owner is out, and has left the door open behind her.

In some parts of the country there are great numbers of a large, beautiful yellow-spotted spider, the webs of which are about a yard in diameter.  The lines on which these webs are spun are suspended from one tree to another, and are as thick as coarse thread.  The fibres radiate from a central point, where the insect waits for its prey.  The webs are placed perpendicularly, and a common occurrence in walking is to get the face enveloped in them as a lady is in a veil.

Another kind of spider lives in society, and forms so great a collection of webs placed at every angle, that the trunk of a tree surrounded by them can not be seen.  A piece of hedge is often so hidden by this spider that the branches are invisible.  Another is seen on the inside of the walls of huts among the Makololo in great abundance.  It is round in shape, spotted, brown in color, and the body half an inch in diameter; the spread of the legs is an inch and a half.  It makes a smooth spot for itself on the wall, covered with the above-mentioned white silky substance.  There it is seen standing the whole day, and I never could ascertain how it fed.  It has no web, but a carpet, and is a harmless, though an ugly neighbor.

Immediately beyond Dilolo there is a large flat about twenty miles in breadth.  Here Shakatwala insisted on our remaining to get supplies of food from Katema’s subjects, before entering the uninhabited watery plains.  When asked the meaning of the name Dilolo, Shakatwala gave the following account of the formation of the lake.  A female chief, called Moene (lord) Monenga, came one evening to the village of Mosogo, a man who lived in the vicinity, but who had gone to hunt with his dogs.  She asked for a supply of food, and