THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 519 



Du Chaillu was presented to the king, who was a savage-look- 

 ing creature, fully armed, with face, chest, stomach, and back 

 tattooed, while the rest of his body was painted red, making him 

 look every inch a cannibal king. His beard, which was quite 

 long, was plaited in two braids, tipped with beads, and a long 

 queue, fashioned in the same manner, hung down his back. This 

 same style, however, was affected by all the men whether of 

 royal blood or not. Brass anklets were also worn, which jingled 

 as he walked. The women were so nearly naked that all their 

 costuming was confined to the hair. 



All the savage peowle regarded Du Chaillu as a spirit, and 

 to propitiate him they gave a great dance, which was chiefly per- 

 formed by women, and it was one of the wildest and most inde- 

 cent orgies the mind of man can conceive ; it was accompanied 

 by inharmonious singing to the music of a drum made of the 

 hollowed trunk of a tree, four feet long, covered atone end with 

 dried goat-skin. After the dance was over they kindly sent him 

 a basket of cooked plantains, which, however, seemed to smell 

 of the flesh-pot, so that Du Chaillu rejected them, as he could 

 not bear the thought of man-eating even at second hand. 



On the following day an elephant hunt was organized, in which 

 four elephants were killed, but one of the natives lost his life by 

 being trample*, auder the feet of one of the huge animals. The 

 man's body was nought into the village to be sold to a neigh- 

 boring tribe for meat. 



Du Chaillu writes : " While I was talking to the king to-day, 

 some Fans brought in a dead body which they had bought in a 

 neighboring town, and which was now to be divided. I could 

 see that the man had died of some disease. I confess I could 

 not bear to stay for the cutting up of the body, but retreated 

 when all was ready. It made me sick all over. I remained till 

 the infernal scene was about to begin, and then retreated. After- 

 ward I could hear them from my house growing noisy over the 

 division. This is a form of cannibalism eating those who have 

 died of sickness of which I had never heard in any people, so 

 that I determined to inquire if it were indeed a general custom, 



