92 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
dogs are prick-eared and spotted yellow and white, 
exactly like those in a Noah’s ark. They salute us with 
load cries of “Mbote,” a frequent polite salutation 
pronounced in English, “ Mbawtay’’), which means “ good,” 
“well,” “ smoothly,” and, in fact, all sorts of conciliatory 
things, and is commonly used along the Congo, between 
the coast and the Equator. “Mbote” is a most useful 
term to acquire, and only practice can teach the different 
meanings which varied modulations of the voice may give 
to it. On the Upper Congo, beyond the Pool, when 
entering a strange village, and seeing rather suspicious 
looks directed at my uncanny white face, I would say in 
inquiring tone “ Mbote, Mbote?” and then the natives 
would either relax into a grin and repeat the word volubly, 
or in obstinate cases scowl more determinedly, and yell 
‘“‘Mbote ve, Mbote ve !” (ve, pronouncedvay, means “ No”’). 
It can be made a very pretty word; and when a smiling 
native says to you rapidly, “‘ Mbote, Mbote, Mbote,” it is 
like patting you on the_ back, and is, indeed, often 
accompanied by that caressing action. 
On the morning of the fifth day after leaving Isangila 
we arrived at Manyanga. This station is decidedly “eg 
city set upon a hill,” and people with weak lungs = | 
unsteady hearts may well stand appalled at such an ascent 
as lies before them up that winding red road, nay, even 
hesitate as to whether they will not sooner seek hospitality 
at the snug little Baptist Mission which lies embosomed 
in trees by the water side. But generally the hospitable 
chief of Manyanga station descends from his eyrie to meet 
his guests, and aided by the stout alpenstock which is 
lent you, and beguiling the steep ascent with a pleasant 
interchange of question and answer, you forget to murmur 
at its steepness, and find yourself quite unexpectedly 
before the verandah of the principal dwelling-house. 
I had pleasant days at Manyanga* whenever I stopped 
there. Its chief, Lieutenant Nilis, was a charming and an 
* T believe this station no longer exists now, or has passed into the 
hands of the French, who acquired the north bank of the Congo from 
Manyanga to the Ubangi River.—H. LU. J, 
: ety weg tse 
he gt ae 
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