276 CONVERSATION WITH SHINTK. 



to bed, another message was received, " Shinte wished 

 to say all he had to tell me at once." This was too 

 tempting an offer, so we went ; and he had a fowl ready- 

 in his hand to present, also a basket of manioc-meal, 

 and a calabash of mead. Referring to the constantly 

 recurring attacks of fever, he remarked that it was the 

 only thing which would prevent a successful issue to my 

 journey, for he had men to guide me who knew all the 

 paths which led to the white men. He had himself 

 travelled far when a young man. On asking what he 

 would recommend for the fever, " Drink plenty of the 

 mead, and, as it gets in, it will drive the fever out." It 

 was rather strong, and I suspect he liked the remedy 

 pretty well, even though he had no fever. He had always 

 been a friend to Sebituane, and, now that his son Sekeletu 

 was in his place, Shinte was not merely a friend but a 

 father to him ; and if a son asks a favour the father must 

 give it. He was highly pleased with the large calabashes 

 of clarified butter and fat, which Sekeletu had sent him, 

 and wished to detain Kolimbota, that he might send a 

 present back to Sekeletu by his hands. This proposition 

 we afterwards discovered was Kolimbota' s own, as he 

 had heard so much about the ferocity of the tribes through 

 which we were to pass, that he wished to save his skin. 

 It will be seen further on, that he was the only one of our 

 party who returned with a wound. 



We were particularly struck, in passing through the 

 village, with the punctiliousness of manners shown by the 

 Balonda. The inferiors, on meeting their superiors in 

 the street, at once drop on their knees and rub dust on 

 their arms and chest ; they continue the salutation of 

 clapping the hands until the great ones have passed. 

 Sambanza knelt down in this manner, till the son of Shinte 

 had passed him. 



We several times saw the woman who occupies the 

 office of drawer of water for Shinte ; she rings a bell 

 as she passes along to give warning to all to keep out 

 of her way ; it would be a grave offence for any one to 

 come near her, and exercise an evil influence by his pres- 

 ence on the drink of the chief. I suspect that offences 

 of the slightest character among the poor, are made the 

 pretext for selling them or their children to the Mambari. 

 A young man of Lobale had fled into the country of 

 Shinte, and located himself without showing himself 



