MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 115 
with a beautifully made rattle. A hen and chickens, 
with that steadfast obstinacy that is so characteristic of 
fowls, would insist on retiring for the night in the house 
which had been assigned me as my lodging; so two 
capable little boys caught the ten chickens tenderly and 
conveyed them to a place of safety, the old hen naturally 
clucking and protesting behind. An immense quantity 
of pumpkins, with the ripe fruit and the great yellow 
blossom growing on the same plant, and the waving fields 
of manioc which I saw in the bright morning light, lent 
an air of prosperity and plenty to the tidy groups of 
houses. In this village, in front of many of the habitations, 
lay huge logs of wood, roughly trimmed tree-trunks. At 
one end they exhibited but little handling from the 
operator, but at the other they terminated in a rudely 
carved and painted head, executed with little finish indeed, 
yet the few strokes that wrought the semblance to humanity 
had been given with a certain decision and skill. There 
was, in fact, a good deal of character and expression in 
this sketched-out face, which, besides, bore much resem- 
blance to the prevailing type of man in that neighbour- 
hood. Whether these logs, of which many were lying 
prone before the cottage doors, were ‘ house-idols” in 
disgrace, or merely ornamental settles, I could not as- 
certain; but when I mentioned the word for “idol” and 
pointed towards them, the men and women gathered round 
and laughed contemptuously. I might mention that the 
natives here call themselves “Wa-mbuno.” The plural 
prefix “wa” again replaces the more classical “ba.” 
Beyond this village all was magnificent, grandiose 
forest. The path goes down, down, down into its depths, 
and the tree-tops shut out the sky. The lone straight 
lianas, like plumb-lines and scaffolding depending from the 
branches, sketch out a sort of fantastic architecture. 
Large white jasmine flowers shine out like stars in the 
eloomy depths of foliage, and down at the bottom of the 
deep ravine a brown stream catches a few glints of green 
light as it hurries along. 
On the evening of the fourth day, after leaving Lutete 
I 2 
