CHAPTER XIV. 



JOURNEY THEOUGH ISHOGO-LAND. 



Tillage of the Obongos or Dwcirf Negroes — Their Dwellings — Ahsence of 

 the Inhabitants — The Elders and People of Yengue — Arrival of the 

 Chief of Yengu^ — War Dance of the Aponos — Ceremony of the Mpaza 

 — An uproarious Night — Good conduct of the Apono Porters — The 

 liivcr Ogoulou — Geographical Position and Altitude of Yengue — Pass- 

 age of the Ogoulou — March to the Plateau of Mokenga- — Eastern 

 Limits of Ishogo-land — Qucmbila King of Mokenga — Palavers — 

 Contention between Chiefs for the possession of the " Ibamba " — Panic 

 in Mokenga — Pie-adjustment of Baggage — Ishogo Porters. 



Ox our way to Yengue, in traversing one of the 

 tracts of wild forest through which runs the high- 

 way cf the country, we came suddenly upon a clus- 

 ter of most extraordinary diminutive huts, which I 

 should have passed by, thinking them to be some 

 kind of fetich-houses, if I had not been told that we 

 might meet in this district with villages of a tribe of 

 dwarf negroes, who are scattered about the Ishogo 

 and Ashango countries and other parts further east. 



I had heard of these people during my former 

 journey in the Apingi country, under the name of 

 Ashoungas ; they are called here, however, Obongos. 

 From the loose and exaggerated descriptions I had 

 heard on my former journey, I had given no credence 

 to the report of the existence of these dwarf tribes, 

 and had not thouglit the subject worthy of mention 

 in my former narrati\'e. The sight of these extra- 



