130 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
Consequently, to my secret annoyance, an ever-increasing 
number of able-bodied people pressed into the little house, | 
the men gravely seating themselves on the floor, each 
with his long pipe, quite prepared to spend a cheerful 
evening, and the women, as became their inferior position 
1h society, standing about the doorway, and effectually 
blocking up all ventilation. A resolution was forthwith 
carried and presented to me by one who appeared to be 
the chairman, that my watch should be again exhibited to 
the ladies and gentlemen assembled. Sorry as I was to 
disappoint these harmless souls, I felt an effort must be 
made to secure a little quiet and repose, especially as my 
dinner was nearly ready; so I managed to convey to 
them the idea that the white man was tired, hungry, and 
wished to be alone. The men then rose most courteously 
and quietly, shook hands with me, each one in turn, and 
with many “ Mbotes”’ left the house, pushing the pro- 
testing women before them, so I was practically once more 
in the solitude I loved. I took off my wet boots, made 
myself comfortable, and: turned with pleasure to the dinner 
and the novel that Faraji had just placed on a large chest 
which served me as a table. The mosquitoes here, 
however, were very abundant, but trumpeted despairingly 
round my mosquito-curtain. As the village sank to rest, 
the weird noises from the river rose into prominence, with 
the grunting of hippopotami and the cries of night-birds. 
The next morning I left my Kinshasha friends, and 
again pursued my journey across the wide waters of the 
Pool, which now began to open into all its magnificent 
breadth. On many islands the Hyphceene* palms were 
erowing, apparently a different species from the Hyphene 
Guineénsis of the coast and the lower reaches of the Congo. 
This Hyphcene was a most beautiful and majestic palm, 
from thirty to sixty feet in height, with broad fan-shaped 
fronds of glaucous green, and "clears of bright. orange 
TEU. ao ae below the crown of leaves there is a curious 
swelling or bulging of the stem, a not uncommon charac- 
* Hyphene vontricosa (Kirk)? 
