INTERVIEW WITH FEMALE CHIEF. 155 



It rained all the morning, but about eleven we reached tho 

 village of Sheakondo, on a small stream named Lonkonye. 

 We sent a message to the head-man, who soon appeared 

 with two wives, bearing handsome presents of manioc : 

 Sheakondo could speak the language of the Barotse well, 

 and seemed awe-struck when told some of the "words of 

 God." He manifested no fear, always spoke frankly, and, 

 when he made an asseveration, did so by simply pointing 

 up to the sky above him. 



Sheakondo' s old wife presented some manioc-roots, and 

 then politely requested to be anointed with butter: as I 

 had been bountifully supplied by the Makololo, I gave her 

 as much as would suffice, and, as they have little clothing, 

 I can readily believe that she felt her comfort greatly 

 enhanced thereby. 



The favorite wife, who was also present, was equally 

 anxious for butter. She had a profusion of iron rings on 

 her ankles, to which were attached little pieces of sheet- 

 iron, to enable her to make a tinkling as she walked in her 

 mincing African style; the same thing is thought pretty 

 by our own dragoons in walking jauntingly. 



On the 6th of January we reached the village of another 

 female chief, named JSTyamoana, who is said to be the 

 mother of Manenko, and sister of Shinte or Kabompo, the 

 greatest Balonda chief in this part of the country. Her 

 people had but recently come to the present locality, and 

 had erected only twenty huts. Her husband, Samoana, 

 was clothed in a kilt of green and red baize, and was armed 

 with a spear and a broadsword of antique form, about 

 eighteen inches long and three broad. The chief and her 

 husband were sitting on skins placed in the middle of a 

 circle thirty paces in diameter, a little raised above the 

 ordinary level of the ground, and having a trench round it. 

 Outside the trench sat about a hundred persons of all ages 

 and both sexes. The men were well armed with bows, 

 arrows, spears, and broadswords. Beside the husband sat 

 a rather aged woman, having a bad outward squint in tho 



