102 MATABELLO. [chap. xxv. 



piece. The chief men of each village came to visit me, 

 clothed in robes of silk and flowered satin, though their 

 houses and their daily fare are no better than those of the 

 i)ther inhabitants. "What a contrast between these people 

 and such savages as the best tribes of hiU Dyaks in Borneo, 

 or the Indians of the Uaupes in South America, living on 

 the banks of clear streams, clean in their persons and 

 their houses, with abundance of wholesome food, and 

 exhibiting its effect in healthy skins and beauty of form 

 and feature ! There is in fact almost as much difference 

 between the various races of savage as of civilized peoples, 

 and we may safely affirm that the better specimens of 

 the former are much superior to the lower examples of 

 the latter class. 



One of the few luxuries of Matabello is the palm wine, 

 which is the fermented sap from the flower stems of the 

 cocoa-nut. It is really a very nice drink, more like cyder 

 than beer, though quite as intoxicating as the latter. 

 Young cocoa-nuts are also very abimdant, so that anywhere 

 in the island it is only necessary to go a few yards to find 

 a delicious beverage by climbing up a tree for it. It is 

 the water of the young fruit that is drunk, before the 

 pulp has hardened; it is then more abundant, clear, and 

 refreshing, and the thin coating of gelatinous pulp is 

 thought a great luxury. The water of full-grown cocoa- 

 nuts is always thrown away as undrinkable, although it 



A 



