( 15« ) 



CHAPTEK IX. 



MAYOLO. 



Arrival at Maj^olo — Reception by the Chief — Discovery of more Losses — 

 I accuse the Ashira — Their Flight — Seizure of a Hostage — Gathering of 

 the Head men of Otando — Mayolo falls ill — I am attacked by Fever — 

 Great Heat and Thunderstorni — Arrival of Macondai and Igalo — Their 

 Ill-treatment by the Ashira — Loss of Photographic Camera and 

 Chemicals — Surgical Practice of the Otando — A Female Doctor — 

 Matrimonial Squabbles — Mayolo's health improves — Witchcraft Ordeal 

 — My Speech to the People — Speech of Mayolo — Curiosity of the 

 Otando — A Female Duel — The Bashikouay Ants — A Precocious Thief 

 — Mayolo again falls ill — Good news from the Apono country — Asto- 

 nishment of the Natives at the Musical-box and Magnets — Climate of 

 Mayolo — Deposit of Dew — The OtoUaws — Piecovery of Macondai 

 — The Alumbi Fetich — Departure from Mayolo. 



At length, on the evening of the 24th Mai"ch, we 

 emerged from the gloom of the forest into an open 

 tract of grass-land, the Otando prairie, where every- 

 thing seemed liglit and cheerful after the dark shades 

 to which we had been so long accustomed. A wide 

 stretch of undulating country lay open before us ; 

 the foreground of which was formed by prairie, the 

 rest appearing as a continuous expanse of forest with 

 long wooded ridges in the distance, one behind the 

 other, the last and highest fjiding into blue mist 

 in the far distance. From the margins of the forest 

 the land gradually sloped, and signs of population 

 were ajjparent in sheds and patches of plantation. 

 .V beautifully clear stream flowed near the prairie 



