480 



A NATUIIALIST'S WANDERINGS 



time found some signs of stato and of a more advanced civili- 

 sation. I found kere a largo Catholic church, which on all 

 religious days, I was told, was verj- weU attencled. The entire 

 pojiidation of the kingdom professed Christianity ; and the 

 outward indications of general advancement over their neigh- 

 l>ours was apparent ; but I cannot say that in individnal cha- 

 racteristics I observed much improvement The missionaries 

 of the Bonian Catholic, jierliaps more than those of any otlier, 

 Church deserve the highest praise for their great self-abnega- 

 tion and for their persistence in seeking out the most dis- 

 oouraging spots of the globe, where theix simple life and 

 fraternal mterest in the cgncems of the native, have exercised 

 a powerful civilising effect. 



The present ruler being a female, all business was trans- 

 acted on her behalf at the palace-guarda, a strong, neat, 

 wooden building near the royal enclosure^ in which a high 

 offiejai was always in attendance in command of an armed 

 guard to keep watch over the regalia and treasure stored there, 

 as well as over the prisoners confined in an adjoining build- 

 ing. These miserable creatures, however, had little chance 

 of escaping from the rough hurdles on which they were con- 

 demned to lie, with their feet fast in the stocks, and their 

 necks through a hole in a great log of wood too heavy to be 

 easily moved. Many of them had several months of their 

 punishment still to work off, but for what crimes they were 

 suffering I could not discover. 



On my arrival, I immediately sent my lettei^ to *'Eer 

 Majesty," requesting to be furnished at once with fresh horses 

 and a guide, to continue my journey to' Dilly, which she 

 courteously promisetl shoxild be ready for me at daybreak. It 

 would have been too literal an interpretation of her promise 

 to have expected to get away at that hour. At ten o*clock, 

 however, the horse and guide arrived, and I started at once, 

 leaving my imfjedimenta to follow behind, in charge as usual 

 of an official of her kingdom an<l of my faithful and intel- 

 ligent companions, the Hindu oilicer and corporal, without 

 whom as representing the Government, my journey into the 

 interior would have been an absolute impossibility. 



The broad chaimel, first of the Laclo river and then of its 

 tributary the Liguani, formed a magnificent highway, along 



