Chap. XII. CHIEF NCHIENGAIN. 233 



the face. I then addressed him in the Ashira lan- 

 guage, and recounted the treasures in beads, caps for 

 the head, coats, and cotton prints that I had brought 

 for him ; finally he began to smile and took my 

 proffered hand. Beads were promised to the women, 

 and gradually the people came back to their houses. 

 Mavolo finished up with a lengthy speech in the 

 African manner, proving to him that I did not bring 

 the plague. Towards evening I went round tlie 

 village, looked into the huts, laughed with the people, 

 and distributed beads. Grood humour was restored, 

 and the remark became general that the Oguizi was 

 a good Spirit after all. 



1 took meridian altitudes of Arcturus and a Crucis 

 before retiring to bed, although exceedingly fatigued 

 after our long march and the great load I had carried. 

 I found, by these observations, that my course had 

 been due east. 



3] St Ma;/. Nchiengain is a tall, slender old negro, 



with a mihl and timid expression of features. He is 



the leading chief of the Apono tribe in these parts ; 



but his clan is now, I hear, almost extinguished. His 



village is one of the finest and cleanest I have yet 



seen, the houses being neat, built chiefly of bamboo, or 



strips of the leaf-stalks of palm-trees, and arranged in 



symmetrical lines. I have measured the street, and 



find it to be 447 yards long and 18 broad. The houses 



are small and quite separate from one another ; the 



height of the roof is about seven feet ; and each 



house has its little verandah in front, under which 



the inhabitants take their meals and sit -to smoke 



and chat. The soil on which the village stands is 

 17 



