STRANGE CUSTOMS OF SAVAGE RULERS. 276 



passed, and also a description of the Congoese, the people dwelling 

 in that part of Africa. 



At one time there was no more famous kingdom in all Africa 

 than that of Congo. It was established on even a grander scale 

 than the modern Ashanti or Dahomey, which have sprmig up within 

 the last 200 years, during which the empire of Congo has been 

 broken up into many petty chieftaincies. The writings of the old 

 Jesuit and Capuchin Fathers teem with tales of its grandeur. 



When the king was elected he came out of the palace, glorious 

 in trinkets, to give the benediction to his people, assembled from 

 far and near in the palace square, for this important event. The 

 priests and nobles arranged themselves around him. The king 

 exhorted the people to be faithful and obedient, and, after the man- 

 ner of monarchs generally, assured his subjects of his profound 

 consideration. "He rises, and all the people prostrate themselves 

 before him. He stretches his hands over them, and makes gestures 

 with his fingers without uttering a word." Shouts of joy, followed 

 by firing of muskets and a "jubilee of banquets," close this initiatory 

 event of the Congo monarch's reign. 



WHIMS OF A TYRANT. 



The king was a despot, secretly controlled by his ministers. 

 His civil list consisted of tribute paid him by the sub-chiefs or vassal- 

 lords, who in their turn ground it out of the people. When he found 

 it necessary to levy a special tax, he would go out of the palace with 

 his cap loosely placed on his head. When the wind blew it oiY, he 

 would rush into the house as if in a great passion, and immediately 

 order the levy of goats, fowls, slaves, and palm-wine. The Negro 

 is a systematic creature in some things; he does nothing without 

 a reason, and the Congoese monarch, therefore, considered that he 

 had justified his acts in the eyes of his subjects by his dignity being 

 offended owing to his cap blowing off. 



One of the taxes was levied on beds — a slave for every span's 

 breadth being the rate at which the impost was made. This tax 

 was devoted to the support of the king's concubines, and as a broad 

 bed entailed considerable expense on its owner, the possession of 



