198 RECEPTION BY SHINTE. Chap. XVI. 



fences made of upright poles a few inches apart, with strong 

 grass or leafy bushes neatly woven between. In the courts 

 were small plantations of tobacco, sugar-cane, and bananas. 

 Many of the poles had taken root, and trees of the Ficus iudica 

 family, which are regarded with superstitious reverence, were 

 planted around for the sake of shade. When we made our 

 appearance a crowd of negroes ran towards us as if they 

 would eat us up ; all were armed and some had guns, but the 

 manner in which they were held showed that the owners 

 were more accustomed to bows and arrows. After staring at 

 us for an hour they began to disperse. 



The two native Portuguese traders had erected a little 

 encampment opposite the place where ours was about to be 

 made. One of them had that sickly yellow hue which mado 

 him look fairer than myself, but his head was covered with 

 a crop of undeniable wool. They were accompanied by a 

 number of Mambari, and had a gang of young female slaves 

 whom they had recently purchased in Lobale, and who were 

 now clearing the ground in front of their encampment. The 

 establishment was conducted with that military order which 

 pervades all the arrangements of the Portuguese colonists. 

 A drum was beaten and trumpet sounded at certain hours, 

 quite in military fashion. Few of iny men had ever seen 

 slaves in chains. " They are not men !" they exclaimed 

 (meaning they are beasts), " who treat their children so !" 



17th, Tuesday. — We were honoured with a grand reception 

 by Shinte about eleven o'clock. Sambanza claimed the honour 

 of presenting us, Manenko being slightly indisposed. He was 

 gaily attired, and, besides a profusion of beads, had a cloth so 

 long that a boy carried it after him as a train. The kotla, or 

 place of audience, was about a hundred yards square, and 

 contained two graceful specimens of a species of banian, under 

 one of which sat Shinte, on a sort of throne covered with 

 a leopard's skin. He was dressed in a checked jacket, and a 

 kilt of scarlet baize edged with green ; strings of large beads 

 hung from his neck, and his limbs were covered with iron 

 and copper armlets and bracelets; on his head he wore a 

 helmet made of beads neatly woven together, and crowned 

 with a great bunch of goose-feathers by way of a crest. Close 



