142 DISCOVERIES OP THE PORTUGUESE* 
same materials as the houses. A city consists 
merely of a collection of such enclosures, arranged 
without the smallest regard to order, and, instead 
of streets, narrow footpaths lead from one enclo* 
sure to another * The city of Loango, which is 
four leagues in circumference, does not contain 
more than 500 of these enclosures. It has, how* 
ever, 15,000 inhabitants. 
The king's authority is absolute, so far as law is 
concerned, and is limited only by the difficulty of 
finding persons who are willing to obey it. A 
prince, a governor of a town, or even a large pro- 
prietor, called here suzerain, is often in a condi- 
tion to set the royal will at defiance. Rankj 
as in some other rude forms of society, is trans- 
mitted exclusively by the female line. The throne 
descends not to the king's son, but to his nephew % 
the sons of princesses alone are princes-born, who 
form the highest rank in the state, and the only 
class who cannot be sold into slavery. By an ini- 
quitous privilege, every rank may sell into slavery 
persons of a lower rank ; so that the princes-born 
may sell every description of their fellow-subjects. 
Our author mentions a singular instance, in which, 
of two brothers, sons of one of the most dis- 
tinguished men in the kingdom, one was sold into 
slavery, the other became king, both in consequence 
of their birth. 
The princesses enjoy very peculiar privileges in 
