roped and corded with runners and llianas, those naked and
clothed in motley patches. At 6.30 A.M., after an hour's work,
probably representing a mile, and a total of 7 h. 30 m., or six
miles in a south-south-west direction from Le Plateau, we left
the ugly cul de sac of a creek, and entered Mbata, which the
French call "La Plantation."

Women and children fled in terror at our approach--and no wonder:
eyes like hunted boars, haggard faces, yellow as the sails at the
Cape Verdes, and beards two days long, act very unlike cosmetics.
A house was cleared for us by Hotaloya, alias "Andrew," of the
Baraka Mission, the lord of the village, who, poor fellow! has
only two wives; he is much ashamed of himself, but his excuse is,
"I be boy now," meaning about twenty-two. After breakfast we
prepared for a sleep, but the popular excitement forbade it; the
villagers had heard that a white greenhorn was coming to bag and
to buy gorillas, and they resolved to make hay whilst the sun
shone.

Prince Paul at once gathered together a goodly crowd of fathers
and mothers, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, cousins and
connections. A large and loud-voiced dame, "Gozeli," swore that
she was his "proper Ngwe," being one of his numerous step mas,
and she would not move without a head, or three leaves, of
tobacco. Hotaloya was his brother; Mesdames Azizeh and Asunye
declared themselves his sisters, and so all. My little stock of
goods began visibly to shrink, when I informed the greedy
applicants that nothing beyond a leaf of tobacco and a demi verre
of tafia would be given until I had seen my way to work.
Presently appeared the chief huntsman appointed by Roi Denis to