Chap. XXII. SAXSAWE'S IDEA OP DIGXITY. 443 



their hair woven into the form of a European hat, and it was only 

 by a closer inspection that its nature was detected. Others had it 

 arranged in tufts, with a threefold cord along the ridge of each 

 tuft ; while others, again, follow the ancient Egyptian fashion, 

 having the whole mass of wool plaited into cords, all hanging 

 down as far as the shoulders. This mode, with the somewhat 

 Egyptian cast of countenance in other parts of Londa, reminded 

 me strongly of the paintings of that nation in the British Museum. 



We had now rain every day, and the sky seldom presented 

 that cloudless aspect and clear blue, so common in the dry lands 

 of the south. The heavens are often overcast by large white 

 motionless masses, winch stand for hours in the same position, 

 and the intervening spaces are filled with a m il k-and- water-looking 

 haze. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, I ob- 

 tained good observations for the longitude of this important point 

 on both sides of the Quango, and found the river running in 

 9° 50' S. lat, 18° 33' E. long. 



On proceeding to our former station near Sansawe's village, he 

 ran to meet us with wonderful urbanity, asking if we had seen 

 Moene Put, king of the white men (or Portuguese) ; and added, 

 on parting, that he would come to receive his dues in the evening. 

 I replied that, as he had treated us so scurvily, even forbidding his 

 people to sell us any food, if he did not bring a fowl and some eggs, 

 as part of his duty as a chief, he should receive no present from 

 me. When he came, it was in the usual Londa way of showing 

 the exalted position he occupies, mounted on the shoulders of his 

 spokesman, as schoolboys sometimes do in England, and as was 

 represented to have been the case in the southern islands when 

 Captain Cook visited them. My companions, amused at his idea 

 of dignity, greeted him with a hearty laugh. He visited the 

 native traders first, and then came to me with two cocks as a 

 present. I spoke to him about the impolicy of the treatment we 

 had received at his hands, and quoted the example of the Bangalas, 

 who had been conquered by the Portuguese, for their extortionate 

 demands of payment for firewood, grass, water, &c. ; and concluded 

 by denying his right to any payment for simply passing through 

 uncultivated land. To all this he agreed ; and then I gave hini, 

 as a token of friendship, a pannikin of coarse powder, two iron 

 spoons, and two yards of coarse printed calico. He looked rather 



