Chap. XIX. DEVASTATIONS OF THE PLAGUE. 401 



The canoes were not able to take the whole of our 

 party at once, including Quengueza's wives, ebony, 

 and slaves ; so we agreed that I should go first and 

 wait for him at Goumbi. When we departed, the 

 old chief told me to call at Obindji's town to bid good 

 bye to Njambai, the present chief; Obindji being no 

 more, for he was one of the victims of the plague. 



We glided down the now placid waters of the 

 Ovenga, passing the many Bakalai villages ; the 

 numerous abandoned houses bore sorrowful witness of 

 the devastations of the fearful scourge that had swept 

 over this part of the country. We slept at night 

 on the banks of the river, and the next morning 

 passed by the ruins of Goumbi ; no longer the 

 flourishing well-jaeopled village it used to be, but a 

 mere crowd of half-ruined, burnt, and deserted houses. 

 Quengueza's new settlement was a little further down 

 the river, and the place was called Sangatanga. 

 Almost every one we met bore traces on his or her 

 face of the ravages of the small-pox ; and there was 

 not one who had not lost a near relative during these 

 unhappy times. In fact, the Abouya clan of the 

 Commi is almost destroyed ; in a few years there 

 will be nothing left of this people, once the most im- 

 portant clan of the Rembo. 



I visited Goumbi after my arrival at Sangatanga. 

 The aspect of the place filled my heart with sadness ; 

 even the gentle breeze whispering through the plan- 

 tain groves seemed to me a mournful sound. I looked 

 for the house of my good old friend Adouma, who 

 on my former journey took me to the Apingi country ; 



2 D 



