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CHAPTER XVIIL 
NJALI-COUDIE.—AN AFRICAN TOWN.—THE CHIEF.—COURT- 
SHIP AND MARRIAGE IN AFRICA. — BUYING A WIFE. — 
QUARREL OVER THE SPOILS. 
Now, after many wanderings, I find myself in the very 
large village of Bakalai called Njali-Coudié. Often I 
wonder that I have not been murdered by these Baka- 
lai, for they are very treacherous, and life seems to thom 
to be of no value. ° 
The village of Njali-Coudié is situated in the very 
hilly country between the Ofoubou and Ovenga Rivers. 
It was one of the largest Bakalai villages I had ever 
seen. The people were wild; their houses were small, ~ 
very small indeed, and built with the bark of trees. It 
was surrounded by large plantain groves and clusters 
~ of sugar-cane. 
The name of the chief of that strange village was 
Mbango, and a fine savage he was. His hair and his 
beard were white. Round his waist was a piece of grass- 
cloth; by his side hung a tremendous war-knife; and 
on each of his ankles he wore two tremendous iron 
rings. Round his neck he wore some monda fetich, 
which he thought could protect him from evil spirits and 
from being bewitched. Round him hung some charmed 
powder, preserved in the skin of a wild animal. Around 
his chest he wore a Ptpbiage leopard’s skin, which his peo- 
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