Chap. IX. EEJOICINQ AT MAYOLO'S EECOVERY. 183 



exerting liimself to open the way for me into Apono- 

 lancL In tlie afternoon I made Igala cut, with a lancet, 

 into the abscess on iMayolo's shoulder, which gave him 

 great reHef after the discharge of the matter. The 

 good fellow thanked mo very much, and we became 

 better friends than ever. Next day he was so much 

 elated with the improvement in his health, that he 

 got tipsy on a fermented beverage which he had 

 prepared two days be I ore he had fallen ill, and which 

 was made by mixing honey and water, and adding 

 to it pieces of bark of a certain tree. The long 

 standing had improved the liquor in his eyes, for the 

 older tlie beverage, the more intoxicating it becomes. 

 All the people of the village had a jollification in the 

 evening to celebrate the recovery of their chief; 

 Mayolo being the most uproarious of all, dancing, 

 slapping his chest, and shouting " Here I am alive ; 

 they said I should die because the SjDirit had come, 

 but here I am." 



Durins; all the time he was ill he had been con- 

 tinually looking forward to this "jolly treat." He 

 had several of the jars of the country full of the fer- 

 mented beverage. Fortunately, he was very inoffen- 

 sive when under the influence of drink. Scarcely 

 able to stand steady, he came up to me, crying out, 

 " Plere I am, Chaillie, well at last, I tell you I am 

 well, Oguizi!" and, in order to prove it to me, he 

 began to leap about and to strike the ground with 

 his feet, saying, " Don't you see that I am well ? 

 The Otando people said, the Apono said — as soon as 

 they heard that you had arrived in my village — 

 ' Mayolo is a dead man ! ' As soon as I fell ill, they 



