GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 365 



The title and authority of the Chenoo are hereditary, 

 through the female line, as a precaution to make certain of 

 the blood royal in the succession ; for although the number 

 of the Chenoo's wives is unlimited, none but the offspring 

 of her who is descended from royal blood, can inherit ; and 

 in default of issue from any such, the offspring of any other 

 princess married to a private person, lays claim to the chief- 

 ship, and the consequences are such as might be expect- 

 ed; feuds and civil broils arise, which terminate only in 

 the destruction of the weaker party. A Chenoo's daughter 

 has the privilege of chusingher own husband, and the per- 

 son she fixes upon is not at liberty to refuse ; but it is a 

 perilous distinction which is thus conferred upon him, as 

 she has also the privilege of disposing of him into slavery, 

 in the event of his not answering her expectations. Aware 

 of his ticklish situation, he is sometimes induced to get the 

 start of her, and by the help of some poisonous mixture, 

 with the efficacy of which the people of Congo are well 

 acquainted, rids himself of his wife and his fears at the 

 same time. 



When a Chenoo appears abroad, one of his great officers 

 carries before him his scepter or staff of authority, which 

 is a small baton of black wood about a foot in length, in- 

 laid with lead or copper, like the worm of a screw, and 

 crossed with a second screw, so as to form the figures of 

 rhomboids. What their native dresses may be beyond the 

 sphere of communication with European slave-dealers, is 

 not exactly known, but little more probably than an apron 

 of some skin-cloth, or grass-matting ; the lion's skin to sit 



