RECEPTION AT CASEMBE'S. 531 



covered with well-grown forest that we could seldom see it. 

 We reached Casembe's town on the 28th November. It stands 

 near the north end of the Lakelet Mofwe ; this is from one to 

 three miles broad, and some six or seven long : it is full of sedgy 

 islands, and abounds in fish. The country is quite level, but 

 fifteen or twenty miles west of Mofwe we see a long range of 

 the mountains of Rua. Between this range and Mofwe the 

 Luapula flows past into Moero, the lake called Moero okata = 

 the great Moero, being about fifty miles long. The town of 

 Casembe covers a mile square of cassava plantations, the huts 

 being dotted over that space. Some have square enclosures of 

 reeds, but no attempt has been made at arrangement : it might 

 be called a rural village rather than a town. No estimate 

 could be formed by counting the huts, they were so irregularly 

 planted, and hidden by cassava; but my impression from other 

 collections of huts was that the population was under a thousand 

 souls. The court or compound of Casembe — some would call 

 it a palace — is a square enclosure of three hundred yards by two 

 hundred yards. It is surrounded by a hedge of high reeds. 

 Inside, where Casembe honored me with a grand reception, 

 stands a gigantic hut for Casembe, and a score of small huts for 

 domestics. The queen's hut stands behind that of the chief, 

 with a number of small huts also. Most of the enclosed space 

 is covered with a plantation of cassava, Curcus purgaris, and 

 cotton. Casembe sat before his hut on a square seat placed on 

 lion and leopard skins. He was clothed in a coarse blue and 

 white Manchester print edged with red baize, and arranged in 

 large folds so as to look like a crinoline put on wrong side fore- 

 most. His arms, legs and head were covered with sleeves, 

 leggings and cap made of various colored beads in neat patterns: 

 a crown of yellow feathers surmounted his cap. Each of his 

 head men came forward, shaded by a huge, ill-made umbrella, 

 and followed by his dependents, made obeisance to Casembe, 

 and sat down on his right and left: various bands of musicians 

 did the same. "When called upon I rose and bowed, and an 

 old counsellor, with his ears cropped, gave the chief as full an 

 account as he had been able to gather during our stay of the 

 English in general, and my antecedents in particular. My 

 having passed through Lunda to the west of Casembe, and vis- 



