340 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 



rowful faces of Rakombo and of his people that they 

 did not know really who had stolen these two boxes ; 

 and they said if they only knew the village to which 

 the things had been taken, they would go and seize 

 some of their women. Suddenly I heard a tremen- 

 dous uproar, and saw the people coming towards the 

 hut where Magouga and some of his people were 

 staying, and brandishing their swords and spears, 

 and shouting, " The Niembouai people have stolen 

 the things." I had great trouble in saving Ma- 

 gouga' s life ; and my men had to lay hold of one 

 or two of these raging warriors, and threaten to 

 kill them if they injured Magouga. They shouted 

 " Ibamba, we have nothing to do with you or with 

 your people : it is only with these Niembouai people, 

 who have brought shame on our village ! " 



It was some time before I could quiet the vil- 

 lagers ; at length something like peace was restored, 

 and, at night, Magouga and his men left me and 

 returned to their homes, for fear of other palavers. 



Mobana is a large place, with houses like those of 

 Niembouai. Numerous bee-hives hang against the 

 houses or are scattered among the plantain-trees. 

 Goats are plentiful ; some of them are of great size, 

 and very fat. These generally form part of the 

 dowry given when a woman is married. While at 

 Mobana, I assisted at the departure of a young 

 woman who had been given in marriage to a man 

 of a neighbouring village. Her father was to take 

 her there, with all the marriage outfit {trousseau de 

 mariage). It consisted of eight of the plates of the 

 country, such as I have already described ; two large 



