PALABAILA AND YELALA. a 
were really touched by the service. They kneel down 
with an abandon of devotion, clasp their hands, and say 
“ Amen ” witha deep ventral enthusiasm. The missionary, 
on the occasion that I accompanied him, gave a short 
sermon in Fiote, well expressed considering the little time 
he had been studying the language. The king constantly 
took up the end of some phrase, and repeated it with 
patronising interest after the missionary, just to show how 
he was attending, throwing meanwhile a furtive glance 
at his wives, who were not pursuing their avocations out- 
side with sufficient diligence. A short prayer concluded 
the service, and when the king rose from his knees, he 
promptly demanded the loan of a hand-screw to effect 
some alteration in his new canoe. 
Round Palabala the vegetation is very rich. There is 
beautiful forest in the valleys wherein pine-apples grow 
wild, and the bracken fern gives a familiar air to the » 
undergrowth in the woodland glades. The Cucurbitacee 
are very noticeable here, particularly one species that has 
most gorgeous fruits; they are egg-shaped, about the size 
of a pear, and covered with prickles. The outside is the 
most brilliant orange colour; when ripe, the husk splits 
into four sections, displaying the interior where the black 
seeds are lying enveloped in pulp of the richest crimson 
hue I have ever seen in nature. The commonest birds 
round Palabala are the grey parrot, the Gypohierax 
vulture, and a small black hornbill. 
In my journeys beyond this place I baci to the river 
Luft, but the extortions of the local chief, the difficulty 
of procuring food, and the untrustworthiness of my 
carriers, who were secretly in league with the natives, 
rendered any further progress along this inhospitable 
route inadvisable, especially as Mr. Stanley’s road to the 
north of the river was open to me, where I should be 
perfectly free from the exactions of the native chiefs, and 
have merely the usual physical difficulties of ordinary 
African travelling to contend with. In fact, in the end 
of 1882, this road along the southern side of the Congo 
offered many obstructions which have since been removed. 
