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204 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
something like a small archway, or a somewhat flattened 
half-circle. The ground underneath this shelter was also~ 
neatly covered with matting, and inside the hut was the 
owner's “ fetish” or little house- idol, his pipe, his head- 
rest or pillow, his gun—if he had one—and various little 
odds and ends, all neatly done up in skins of animals 
or native cloth. I bought a head-rest of one man for a 
tattered old shawl which I had meditated tossing into the 
Congo as worthless just before. 
The people here were handing round salt to each other 
in a large leaf. They eat it alone and with extraordinary 
custo. ‘One of these Ba-yansi men that I had previously 
met at Msuata became so affectionate after I had given 
him a few pinches of table-salt—to them an indescrib- 
able delicacy—that he implored me to become his “ blood 
brother.” I half laughingly consented, and he took his — 
knife and, with the point of it, ¢ gently scratched my skin 
(on my fore- -arm) as if he were going to vaccinate me. 
When a few drops of blood had appeared on the scarified - 
flesh, he greedily sucked them, and then, repeating the 
same process on his own arm, invited me to apply my 
lips to the wound. J made a show of doing so, and the 
ceremony was then concluded by our exchanging presents 
and mutual protestations of eternal friendship. I have 
never seen this blood-brother of mine from that day when 
I left him smiling at me as our canoes glided off from the 
shore, and I confess I should be curious to know whether 
he would remember me, should we ever meet again. 
Shortly after we had quitted this place, and rounded a 
little promontory, we came very abruptly on a group of 
hippopotami, sunning themselves on a sand-bank. ‘Three 
of them deliberately gave chase to us in the first canoe, 
but we merrily out-distanced them; then they turned 
about, and, seeing the baggage canoe coming on behind, 
swam towards it. For a moment I was anxious for my 
baggage, but the men put out into the open, and the 
hippopotami, finding a stern chase beyond their powers or 
inclinations, desisted and returned to sun themselves. It ? 
is true that in taking to the middle of the river the men 
