pee WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. 
long stem-branches of the palm; others with the leaves ; 
others with fire-wood, and others with sticks to make our 
beds with. 
Then we went to work in earnest, and as they work- 
ed the men sang songs. These men, my own people, 
had always been with me wherever I went except when 
I went too far into the interior. They were all splendid 
canoe-men. 
There was Kombé whom we had called the quarrel- 
ler; Ratenou his brother, who was a splendid fellow to 
go with his canoe through the breakers; Oshimbo, who 
could paddle better than any man I ever knew; Ritim- 
bo, a jolly good fellow, always ready to beat the tam- 
tam when asked for; Makombé, a splendid one to tell 
us marvellous stories in the evening; Rakenga, a great 
fisherman; Bandja, a man who knew how to climb 
the palm-trees and get palm wine; Adouma, who could 
trap game and was said to possess a wonderful fetich to 
make the game come to him; Risani, a good carpenter, 
who said he was willing to work, but who was contin- 
ually talking of the amount of food he could eat; then 
came Yombi, who constantly bragged of how much palm 
wine he could swallow, but was always promising never 
to get tipsy—for I had promised him as good a drubbing 
as ever he would wish to get if I caught him in a state 
of intoxication. The last man of the party was a slave, 
a harp player. 
There was no hunter but myself. 
So you see ‘we were a nice sét altogether, and all were 
devoted to me and obeyed me cheerfully. They all 
loved me dearly. Indeed, all the people of that country 
loved me. 
