MONBUTTU CHIEFS. 447 



also throughout the country. You know, of course, what 

 an important position women occupy as a rule in Monbuttu. 

 Munza's daughter is married to Gambari. She is a very aris- 

 tocratic and conceited person, and tries to hide her twin sons' 

 mixed blood by bandaging their heads all the tighter. It is 

 very noteworthy how much importance is attached to pure 

 descent in Monbuttu, and indeed among the Zande also, of 

 course only on the father's side. Munza's sons, of whom there 

 are about fifteen living, are dispersed among the chiefs. The 

 three elder, Mbala, Bomba, and Bebe, have founded a village 

 on the Nomayo, where, according to the general rumours, they 

 perform wonders in cannibalism, and wait for the restitution 

 of their paternal inheritance. I was by no means favourably 

 impressed by Mbala. 



Munza's brother, Asanga (Sanga), is certainly pre-eminent 

 among the Monbuttu chiefs of the present day. He hastened 

 to Tingazi from his residence, which lies two or three days' 

 journey to the south-south-west. We were unknown to each 

 other when I caused him to be released from his long and 

 unmerited captivity, and sent him back to his country, and 

 now he came to make my acquaintance. He quite corresponds 

 with one's conception of what a Negro prince should be. He 

 was accompanied by a crowd of men, among whom was an 

 Albino with a long fair beard, and he brought with him 

 about twenty very elegantly painted ladies. It was long since 

 I had had the pleasure of seeing so elegant and fair a company 

 as the one which now came to visit me, and which was rein- 

 forced by Yangara and some forty of his wives. From the 

 multitude of chignons, I might have fancied myself at an 

 aesthetic kettledrum, had it not been for the apologies for 

 aprons, which reminded me too forcibly of Africa. After 

 I had presented my amiable visitors with a few glass beads 

 and copper bangles, I brought out your book in honour of 

 the occasion, and you would have felt well repaid for your 

 trouble could you have seen the transports of delight caused 

 by your pictures, especially the Zande and Monbuttu portraits. 

 I can assure you that the " Mharih Pah"* is very warmly 



* That is, "leaf-eater," a nickname given to Dr. Schweinfurth in allusion to 

 his botanical occupations. 



