480 A NATUBALIST'S WANDERINGS 



time found some signs of state and of a more advanced civili- 

 sation. I found here a large Catholic church, which on all 

 religious days, I was told, was very well attended. The entire 

 population of the kingdom 'professed Christianity ; and the 

 outward indications of general advancement over their neigh- 

 bours was apparent ; but I cannot say that in individual cha- 

 racteristics I observed much improvement. The missionaries 

 of the Roman Catholic, perhaps more than those of any other, 

 Church deserve the highest praise for their great self-abnega- 

 tion and for their persistence in seeking out the most dis- 

 couraging spots of the globe, where their simple life and 

 fraternal interest in the concerns of the native, have exercised 

 a powerful civilising effect. 



The present ruler being a female, all business was trans- 

 acted on her behalf at the palace-guarda, a strong, neat, 

 wooden building near the royal enclosure, in which a high 

 official was always in attendance in command of an armed 

 guard to keep watch over the regalia and treasure stored there, 

 as well as over the prisoners confined in an adjoining build- 

 ing. These miserable creatures, however, had little chance 

 of escaping from the rough hurdles on which they were con- 

 demned to lie, with their feet fast in the stocks, and their 

 necks through a hole in a great log of wood too heavy to be 

 easily moved. Many of them had several months of their 

 punishment still to work off, but for what crimes they were 

 suffering I could not discover. 



On my arrival. I immediately sent my letters to "Her 

 Majesty,' requesting to be furnished at once with fresh horses 

 and a guide, to continue my journey to Dilly, which she 

 courteously promised should be ready for me at daybreak. It 

 would have been too literal an interpretation of her promise 

 to have expected to get away at that hour. At ten o'clock, 

 however, the horse and guide arrived, and I started at once, 

 leaving my impedimenta to follow behind, in charge as usual 

 of an official of her kingdom and of my faithful and intel- 

 ligent companions, the Hindu officer and corporal, without 

 whom as representing the Government, my journey into the 

 interior would have been an absolute impossibility. 



The broad channel, first of the Laclo river and then of its 

 tributary the Liguani, formed a magnificent highway, along 



