58

AN ORATION BEFORE SUPPER.

At last all was told, and, to my great satisfaction, Mbango sat down.

Immediately all ceremony was dropped; every man carried off his friend to have a talk about trade, night seeming no objection, and the women began to prepare some food, of which I stood in much need.

About twelve o'clock (midnight) supper was ready, and I sat down before an immense basket of boiled plantains and a few boiled fish, and made a very hearty meal. And, this done, I was shown to my place in the house assigned me for sleeping, when I was glad enough to wrap myself in my musquito-netting and sleep till daybreak.

Dayoko.-African Royalty.-Foreign Relations and Diplomacy in the Interior.The Value of a Wife.-Negotiations.-The dry Season.-The Mbousha Tribe.A Wizard.-A fetich Trial and a Murder.-Progress.-Excitement of the Shekianis at my supposed Wealth.-The Ntambounay.-The Sierra del Crystal.Lost again.-Approaches of interior Village.-Agricultural Operations.-Famine.

My first business on the following day was to talk to Dayoko about my expedition into the interior; in fact, to ask his permission to go, and to obtain from him an escort.

A stranger going into an African village and seeing the chief or king living in a manner as simple and as needy as any of his subjects—in fact, in no way conspicuous above the herd of blacks, and receiving even but little of the respect or precedence which is usually accorded to the most shadowy monarchs, would little expect that such a king possessed great authority in his own tribe, and wields great influence among his neighbors. Dayoko, for instance, was chiefly remarkable as the oldest living man in his village. He was a trader like the rest, a beggar like the rest,. and was very glad to accept from me a propitiatory offering of an old dress-coat which, having done duty for a whole winter in New York, had been put away, with other cast-off garments, for this very purpose. So far Dayoko, when placed in contact with

civilization.

But Dayoko is the oldest and most influential chief among the Mbousha tribe. His age gives him great authority among his own people, and a judicious culture of the marriage relation has given the shrewd old fox no end of fathers-in-law in every tribe within a hundred miles. Now to have a father-in-law in Africa means to have a friend in need, a man to whom you can confidently send a bit of ivory or bar-wood to sell, and whom you call on in any emergency where he can help you. In fact, the more wives a man has the more power he gains in this way, and women are chiefly valuable because by their means amicable and commercial relations are cultivated and subsist between the tribes.

60

THE MARRIAGE RELATION.

Dayoko was quite old. He had begun to marry when quite young, had married, right and left, all about him ever since, and was now related to one or two great men in every tribe which he could by any means reach. Thus he promised to prove a most useful man to me.

Though Dayoko's palace was no bigger than the hut of any of his well-to-do subjects, I found, as was to be expected, that he had more wives and more slaves than the others. And I found, too, that his voice in the councils was of great weight, and that, in certain cases, he possessed a veto power which rendered him supreme. I felt, therefore, that if I could gain over the king to my project I need not care for the people, or even for the chiefs who were his relatives, farther up the river.

My first aim was to convince every body that I did not want to trade. This, thanks to my previous hunts on other branches of the Muni, and to my never having traded or shown a desire to make money, was not so difficult to do. I was already known as a great hunter.

Having established this point, I called Dayoko into my house and gave him the present with which a negotiation is generally opened. I gave him the coat before mentioned, about twenty yards of cotton cloth, some powder, some looking-glasses for his wives, and some gun-flints.

His majesty accepted graciously all my offering.
Then I spoke of going into the Fan country.

Dayoko thought my project impossible.

I would die on the way, and he should have my death on his soul-a consideration which seemed to affect him greatly.

I should be murdered by the cannibals and eaten.

There was war on the river, and the tribes would not let me pass.

The country was sick.

And so on.

Seeing that I exhibited no signs of repentance, the old sinner turned on a new tack. His country was full of beasts and birds. Why not hunt here? and he would give me as many men as I wanted.

Finally, I told him, with a great show of firmness, that go I would, if not with his people, then with some one else.

Hereupon he relented, fearing probably that I would leave him,

NATIVE CURIOSITY.

61 and that thus he should not make so much out of me as he calculated.

It is as well to add that I did not let any of his fellows peep into my chest. They are all greedy, and think that every white man is by nature a Croesus, and owner of an untold wealth of cloth, looking-glasses, gun-flints, powder, and tobacco. And besides, their fear of some white man beginning a direct trade with the interior tribes makes them excessively jealous of every one who attempts to reach the interior. Dayoko's people did not cease to warn me that I must carry nothing into the up-country, to all which, of course, I said yes.

It was at last determined that I should go under Dayoko's protection. So on the third day after my arrival I sent my Mbinga men back, and was now left alone among my new friends. I am to wait for a party going to Mbene's people, who live farther up river, and in whose charge Dayoko proposes to put me. If they do not come, I shall get an escort of his Mbousha men.

Meantime numbers of the neighboring tribes come daily to see me. Most of these have never seen a white man before, and are filled with astonishment at my long hair, at my white skinit is really tanned a very dark brown by this time-and at the clothes I wear. They stand about me in such crowds that often I am half suffocated with the stench which their uncleanly bodies give out.

While waiting, I amused myself with hunting. The country about here affords to the naturalist little but birds; but some of these are splendid. To-day (August 16th) I shot a superba, a bird well named, for its feathers of green and gold and bright purple are a superb sight as it flies about through the dark-green foliage of the woods.

I have still to wait for the people Dayoko promises. This will make some detention, as they are here on agricultural intents, and the men are out all day cutting trees, and the women cleaning the ground; every thing is busy bustle. This is the dry season, and now all planting must be done, for in a few weeks the rains come on, and then it is too late.

The dry season is delightful in Africa. It is the season of flowers, of humming-birds-who flit through bushes at all hours, and charm one with their meteor-like flight of every thing pleasant.

62

A MBOUSHA WIZARD.

These Mbousha people look very much like the Shekiani tribe. They have the usual negro features, and are of medium height. They are less warlike than the Shekianis, but quite as superstitious and cruel, as I had occasion to know. I heard one day, by accident, that a man had been apprehended on a charge of causing the death of one of the chief men of the village. I went to Dayoko and asked about it. He said yes, the man was to be killed; that he was a notorious wizard, and had done much harm.

So I asked to see this terrible being.

I was taken to a rough hut, within which sat an old, old man, with wool white as snow, wrinkled face, bowed form, and shrunken limbs. His hands were tied behind him, and his feet were placed in a rude kind of stocks. This was the great wizard. Several lazy negroes stood guard over him, and from time to time insulted him with opprobrious epithets and blows, to which the poor old wretch submitted in silence. He was evidently in his dotage.

I asked him if he had no friends, no relations, no son, or daughter, or wife to take care of him. He said sadly, "No one."

Now here was the secret of this persecution. They were tired of taking care of the helpless old man, who had lived too long, and a charge of witchcraft by the greegree man was a convenient pretext for putting him out of the way. I saw at once that it would be vain to try to save him.

I went, however, to Dayoko, and argued the case with him. I tried to explain the absurdity of charging a harmless old man with supernatural powers; told him that God did not permit witches to exist; and finally made an offer to buy the old wretch, offering to give some pounds of tobacco, one or two coats, and some looking-glasses for him-goods which would have bought me an able-bodied slave.

Dayoko replied that, for his part he would be glad to save him, but that the people must decide; that these were much excited against him; but that he would, to please me, try to save his life.

During the night following I heard singing all over the town all night, and a great uproar. Evidently they were preparing themselves for the murder. Even these savages can not kill in cold blood, but work themselves into a phrensy of excitement first, and then rush off to do the bloody deed.