- x. 
PREPARATIONS. 109 
plenty of room. Oralas are abundant, and meat has 
been smoked in abundance during these last few days. 
At last the day of the feast has come. ‘There is a 
great stir in the village. The hunters have all returned, 
the men have also come back from their fishing ex- 
cursion, and for the last few days a great quantity of 
palm wine has been collected. Bakalai chiefs have 
come from all the surrounding country, with a great 
number of their wives and of their people; they are all 
scattered about over the little olakas round the village. 
After the feast a grand palaver is to come off, and the 
_affairs of the country will be discussed. Friend Quen. 
gueza seems to be the King of the Kings, for they all 
show him great marks of respect. 
‘Toward. noon the tables are set. Do not think for a 
moment that I mean real tables; I mean the mats are 
laid on the ground. Under our shade several mats are 
put, and many are scattered under the trees round. 
Quengueza and I are to eat under the shade, the other 
chiefs under the trees. . % 
The drums begin to beat, wild songs are sung, and 
there is a great stir. The wives of the King have all 
turned cooks, and are all busy; the village seems to be 
in a blaze of smoke, for every thing is cooking, and soon 
the repast is to be ready. 
_ All sorts of pleasant odors are coming out of these 
pots: what curious dishes some of them will be! 
The drums are beating furiously again and again. 
Twenty of the King’s wives have come out, each bring- 
ing a dish with her, which they deposit on the mats. 
Then Obindji came to Quengueza and to me, and 
bade us come and sit before what was presented to us, 
