Chap. XII. AKKIVAL OF APINGI MEN. 235 



What could I do with a man who believed that I 

 made all these things myself, by some conjuring 

 process ? for it is thus that Nchiengain argued with 

 Mayolo : " The cloth and beads and guns cost him no 

 trouble to make ; why does he not give me more of 

 these things which do me so much good ? " " Mayolo," 

 he would continue in course of his many palavers with 

 him, " you eat me with jealousy. Why do you want 

 yourself to take the Oguizi to the Ashango country ? 

 why not go back and leave him to me ? I want it to 

 go far and wide that the Oguizi and Nchiengain are 

 big friends." At length he offered himself to accom- 

 pany me across the Rembo, and to give me some 

 porters, for our loads were too heavy for our present 

 numbers. It was the passage of this river (the upper 

 Ngouyai) that offered our next difficulty ; it was too 

 wide and deep to ford or swim across, and we needed 

 a good canoe to ferry the party over. 



Ju7ie 1st. A number of Apingi men came up the 

 river to-day from their villages, which are situated 

 a few miles lower down, on the river banks, to- 

 wards the north or north-west, but belonging to 

 a different clan from Reman dji's, which I visited 

 in my former journey. They fraternised with the 

 Apono, and we had great noise, tam-tamming, and 

 confusion. They brought about 100 bunches of 

 plantains for sale, which my men purchased. I find 

 the Apingi are generally lighter and redder in colour 

 than the Apono, and they are not so well-made a 

 people or so handsome (or less ugly) in features. But 

 there are no sharp lines of distinction between these 

 African tribes. They intermarry a good deal with 



