200 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



The zakis were much puzzled by the water, and 

 jumped into it again and again to test its nature, 

 though they always expressed a strong disapproval of 

 its wetness when they had done so. We allowed them 

 to indulge their curiosity by the shore, but when the 

 canoe was in mid-stream fear for their precious lives 

 kept us busy hauling them down from the sides of 

 the boat, so that they might not leap over. 



Mani is a Kotoko town on the right bank of the 

 Shari, and is therefore under French influence. It is 

 situated on a high bank, which rises so steeply from 

 the river as to make its ascent a real scramble. Some 

 of the houses boast a broad mud step up to the door- 

 way, and there is every sign of prosperity. The people 

 were unusually pleasant and civil, and the chief com- 

 bined a simple dignity with an entire lack of osten- 

 tation, qualities that are rare in Africa. He is said 

 to possess a great many guns, but he was not a rich 

 man, for when we offered to give him a big dash out 

 of which he was to pay his people for some things 

 we wanted, he said he had no money to give them, 

 and would rather we paid direct. 



Our purchases were of musical instruments, which 

 might not be played or parted with except by per- 

 mission of the chief, though each one belonged to 

 the musician who played it. Amongst them was a 

 clarinet - like instrument, encrusted with cowries on 

 rubber, such as those we had seen in Gauaronga's 

 court. There were four clarinets and three long thin 

 drums with a decided waist, which were struck by the 

 hand. These seven formed one section of the band, 

 while another consisted of three aligatas of varying 

 sizes, and four big round drums ; and a third was 



