368 AFRICA SPEAKS 



large silver watch almost as big as an alarm clock. 

 When this was given to the king, he placed it in a 

 pouch suspended from his waist. At frequent inter- 

 vals thereafter he would reverently lift this contrivance 

 forth and gaze upon its handless countenance. Per- 

 ceiving that none of us paid any particular attention 

 to this, he fmally passed it to the prime minister, who 

 gravely placed it to his ear and Hstened for a few 

 dramatic moments. Then with an attitude of supreme 

 importance he wound up the watch and handed it back 

 to His Majesty, who, after glancing about the circle 

 to see if all had been duly impressed, placed it back 

 into his pocket. I now requested permission to inspect 

 this rehc, finding it to be nothing but an empty case 

 with a stem-winder that made a noise like a coffee 

 grinder I 



Later in the evening, with ^s full court and all 

 his wives in attendance, the king came to our camp 

 to hsten to the Victrola. He carefully explained to the 

 assemblage the phenomenon of the wliite man's magic 

 sound box, and to everytliing he said there was a 

 regular Hollywood chorus of "yeses" — this boy was 

 some chief I 



Several days' travel brought us to Bangui on the 

 beautiful Ubangi River, the principal tributary of the 

 mighty Congo. This town is a large trading center, 

 being in touch with the outside world by means of 

 water transport, and here I had the first opportunity 

 in a long time to mail letters and films. Because of 

 the polyglot mixture of races, white, black, and Arab, 

 we found it to be an interesting place. The shops were 

 glorified five-and-ten-cent stores, where the savage 

 from the bush, after walking many miles through the 



