XXX.] 



A DAY OF LUXURY. 



393 



cloth each, and a few charges of powder. This, together with 

 the twelve yards every man had received before starting, made 

 in all about twenty yards of cloth as pay, and a few charges of 

 powder as a gift, for upward of two years' service. Of course 

 men would not engage for such ridiculous rates of pay, were it 

 not that they profited by rapine and robbery in passing through 

 countries where the people did not possess gnus. 



However, they were well satisfied with the result of their 

 journey, and announced their intention of starting, when the 

 approaching rains were over, with as many of their friends as 

 they could muster, to revisit Kasongo, for the purpose of ob- 

 tainingf more slaves from that enlio-htened ruler. 



October, 



1815. 



ALVEZ'S BETTLEMENT, 



This to me was a day of luxuries, as Alvez, for a considera- 

 tion, supplied me with some coffee, onions, and soap. This last 

 commodity I had been without for nearly a year, with the ex- 

 ception of a piece about a couple of inches square which Ju- 

 mah Merikani had given me, and I now thoroughly enjoyed 

 its unsparing application. 



Alvez's settlement differed only from Komanante, a native 

 village adjoining it, in the larger dimensions of some of his 

 huts ; and although he had, according to his own account, been 

 settled in Bihe for more than thirty years, he had made no at- 

 tempt at cultivation or rendering himself comfortable. 



