18 WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. 
The wives of the King cooked food for us, and in the 
mean time huts had been given to us by his sable Maj- 
esty. 
I hardly tasted the food that was presented to me. 
After my sham meal I fell asleep, and when I awoke the 
gun had set, and all was dark and silent. I felt better, 
however, and came out of my hut; the King was quietly 
smoking his pipe, and we had a chat together; the 
Queen came forth also; then a few old men of the place, 
whom we may call the gray-beards, made their appearance. 
These people of course knew what the sea was, knew 
that the vessels sailed upon it to come to their country ; 
but they asked me many questions about the white man’s 
country. For instance :— 
Had we men with only one eye in the middle of the 
forehead ? 
Did our babies feed on milk? They had heard they 
fed on spirits. . 
Of what material were our houses? Were they 
built with the bark of trees? And many other appar- 
ently foolish questions. 
When I told them that we had no people with one 
eye in the middle of their foreheads they did not believe 
me. They had never seen any white man manufactur- 
ing before them the goods we brought, therefore they 
thought another species of men must make them, from 
whom we bought them. 
At last, looking at my watch, I saw that it was ten 
o'clock: time to go to bed: so I bade good-night to the 
King and his people and went back to my hut. I barri- 
caded myself; slept with my gun by my side, and for 
my pillow laid my head on my revolvers. 
