Cray) 
CHAPTER IIL. 
PALABALA AND YELALA. 
NaTIvE VILLAGES—AGRICULTURE—DomMEstTIc ANIMALS—HovusEs--- 
SceNERY—TuHeE Livinestone INLAND Misston—F tote THE Lan- 
GUAGE OF THE Coxnco—THE NEIGHBOURING Kinas—NATIVE 
SUPERSTITIONS—NATIVE FEELINGS TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY —K ING 
Koneo-Mpaka—CucurBits—THEeE Luru—ReEtTurN TO Vivi— 
JOURNEY TO YELALA—Neuvi MPANDA AND ITS AMIABLE CHIEF— 
THE SCENERY ON THE Roap—THE Grass—GRASSHOPPERS—K AI— 
Dracanas—THE CHIEF oF YELALA—NTETE Msoneo’s ToILETTE 
—JOURBNEY TO THE Faris—TuHe Fauus or YELALA—A FiIsu 
BREAKFAST—RETURN TO. VIVI. 
LEAVING Vivi for a time, I returned to Underhill, to 
undertake the journey along the south bank of the river 
for which I had made previous preparations, with the 
intention, however, of returning to Mr. Stanley’s station 
should I not succeed in my enterprise. I intended, at any 
rate, to visit the interesting native town of Palabala, 
which lay about six miles from the Congo, due south from 
Vivi. Having mustered my few carriers, most of them 
the riff-raff of Boma, I left Underhill in the sultry noon- 
time and toiled at first up a steep and stony hill, most 
exasperating in character, where my feet slipped back at 
every step off the sharp-edged stones. Then as the little 
groups of Mission buildings vanished behind, shut out by 
the brow of the hill, a fresh stretch of the river Congo, 
rolling swiftly along through narrowing banks, came into 
view, with Vivi rising high above its north bank, a crest 
of white houses surmounting a scarped red cliff The > 
road winding down from this eagle’s nest to the riverside 
was very distinctly seen. The stream of the Congo here, 
