FUNERAI, OBSEQUIES. 423 



poles, with grass interwoven. The latter are occupied 

 by half-caste Portuguese from Ambaca, agents for the 

 Cassange traders. The cold in the mornings was now 

 severe to the feelings, the thermometer ranging from 5 8° 

 to 6o°, though, when protected, sometimes standing as 

 high as 64 at six a.m. When the sun is well up, the 

 thermometer in the shade rises to 8o°, and in the evenings 

 it is about 7 8°. 



A person having died in this village, we could transact 

 no business with the chief, until the funeral obsequies 

 were finished. These occupy about four days, during 

 which there is a constant succession of dancing, wailing, 

 and feasting. Guns are fired by day, and drums beaten 

 by night, and all the relatives, dressed in fantastic caps, 

 keep up the ceremonies with spirit proportionate to the 

 amount of beer and beef expended. When there is a 

 large expenditure, the remark is often made afterwards, 

 " What a fine funeral that was ! " A figure, consisting 

 chiefly of feathers and beads, is paraded on these occasions, 

 and seems to be regarded as an idol. 



Having met with an accident to one of my eyes, by a blow 

 from a branch in passing through a forest, I remained some 

 days here, endeavouring, though with much pain, to draw 

 a sketch of the country thus far, to be sent back to Mr. 

 Gabriel at Iyoanda. I was always anxious to transmit an 

 account of my discoveries on every possible occasion, lest, 

 anything happening in the country to which I was going, 

 they should be entirely lost. I also fondly expected a 

 packet of letters and papers which my good angel at 

 Iyoanda would be sure to send, if they came to hand, but 

 I afterwards found that, though he had offered a large 

 sum to any one who would return with an assurance of 

 having delivered the last packet he sent, no one followed 

 me with it to Cabango. The unwearied attentions of this 

 good Englishman, from his first welcome to me when, a 

 weary, dejected, and worn-down stranger, I arrived at 

 his residence, and his whole subsequent conduct, will be 

 held in lively remembrance by me to my dying day. 



Several of the native traders here having visited the 

 country of I,uba, lying far to the north of this, and there 

 being some visitors also from the town of Mai, which is 

 situated far down the Kasai, I picked up some information 

 respecting those distant parts. In going to the town of 

 Mai the traders crossed only two large rivers, the I^oajima 



