were even whitewashed, I thought it a miserable place, and began to
look out for some garden where I might pitch my tent, rather than
live in one of those dirty-looking habitations. The wall around the
consul's house was of mud like the others; but when I entered I
found clean, handsome rooms, which furnished delightful shade and
coolness during the heat of the day. The roof was of palm-logs,
covered with mud, which the sun baked into a hard mass, so that the
house was in reality as good as a brick dwelling. It was a great
deal more comfortable than it appeared from the outside.

There were other features of the place, however, which it would be
difficult to find anywhere except in Central Africa. After I had
taken possession of my room, and eaten breakfast with my host, I
went out to look at the garden. On each side of the steps leading
down from the door sat two apes, who barked and snapped at me. The
next thing I saw was a leopard tied to the trunk of an orange-tree.
I did not dare to go within reach of his rope, although I
afterwards became well acquainted with him. A little farther, there
was a pen of gazelles and an antelope with immense horns; then two
fierce, bristling hyenas; and at last, under a shed beside the
stable, a full-grown lioness sleeping in the shade. I was greatly
surprised when the consul went up to her, lifted up her head,
opened her jaws so as to show the shining white tusks, and finally
sat down upon her hack.

She accepted these familiarities so good-naturedly that I made bold
to pat her head also. In a day or two we were great friends; she
would spring about with delight whenever she saw me, and would purr
like a cat whenever I sat upon her back. I spent an hour or two
every day among the animals, and found them all easy to tame except