264 THE MAECH THROUGH APONO-LAND. Chap. XHI. 



was seated, tliey hurriedly crossed to the other side 

 of the street, putting their hand up to the side of 

 their face so that they might not see me — apparently 

 with a view to avoid or avert the " evil eye." My 

 Aponos were very indignant at this, and said, with 

 an air of evident superiority, and as though they had 

 been with me all their lives, " "When have these 

 men of the woods seen an Oguizi before ? " 



Though I was very tired, yet I did not go to bed 

 until I had taken several meridian altitudes of stars, 

 in order to ascertain my latitude. The process caused 

 the greatest astonishment to the natives. 



June 11th. Igoumbie is the largest village I have 

 met with yet, and forms one long and tolerably broad 

 street. I counted 191 huts ; each hut has a wooden 

 door, and is divided into three compartments or 

 chambers. The houses are generally placed close to 

 each other, not wide apart like the houses of the 

 Aponos. There are many of the curious alumbi 

 houses scattered about. A large mbuiti or idol house 

 stands about halfway down the street, with a mon- 

 strous wooden image inside, which the villagers hold 

 in great reverence. The village being so large, the 

 inhabitants seem to have thought it required several 

 palaver-houses, for I noticed four or five. The 

 palaver-house is an open shed, which answers the 

 purpose of a public-house, club-room, or town-hall, to 

 these people ; they meet there daily to smoke and 

 gossip, hold public trials or palavers, and receive 

 strangers. What was most remarkable, there was here 

 an attempt at decorative work on the doors of many of 

 the houses. The huts, neatly built, with walls formed 



