XXXI.] FORTUNE -TELLING. ' 403 



a donkey, both of which knew him well, and would follow him October, 

 like dogs, which I accepted as a proof that thete must have ^^'^^• 

 been some good in Joao's nature. Indeed, I must acknowledge 

 that to me and mine he showed great kindness, and I wish I 

 were not compelled, in the interests of Africa, to make any al- 

 lusion to the dark side of his character. But '■''Fais ee que dois, 

 advienne que pourra.''^ I am constrained to declare that he 

 was any thing but the right kind of man to create a good im- 

 pression by trading in Africa. He was openly engaged in the 

 slave -traffic, notwithstanding his holding a commission from 

 the Portuguese Government as a district judge, and slaves in 

 chains were to be seen in his settlement. 



With my experience of the manner in which slaves are ob- 

 tained, I could not but feel pained that white men who could 

 thus disregard the feelings of fellow-creatures should be among 

 the first specimens of Europeans seen by the untutored people 

 of the interior. He told me, as rather a good story, how Ka-* 

 songo had ordered hands and ears of slaves to be cut off in hon- 

 or of his visit, and expressed his intention of taking about a 

 hundred flint-lock muskets to that chief to exchange for slaves, 

 and quite scouted the idea of going there for ivory. That, he 

 said, could be obtained much more easily at Jenj^, to which 

 place the road was comparatively easy and healthy. 



A fetich-man visited Joao's while I was there, his errand be- 

 ing to tell the fortunes of the people about to journey to Ka- 

 songo's, and he also professed to cure diseases and expel evil 

 spirits. He was followed by some friends, who carried iron 

 bells, which they occasionally struck with small pieces of iron. 



On arrival he seated himself on the ground, surrounded by 

 his friends, and then commenced a monotonous recitative. In 

 this he accompanied himself by shaking a rattle made of bas- 

 ket-work and shaped like a dumb-bell, while the circle of at- 

 tendants joined in chorus, sometimes striking their bells, and at 

 others varying the performance by laying them down and clap- 

 ping their hands in a kind of rhythmic cadence. This being 

 finished, the soothsayer was ready to be consulted, provided 

 those coming to him were prepared to pay in advance for his 

 predictions. 



The principal instrument for reading the decrees of fate con- 



