CHAPTER XIX, 
CHAGA. 
N the day after my arrival at Moche I received 
V_/ an invitation to visit the mange (chief) in his 
palace. " Put on your best clothes," said the guide to 
me, ^' and let the chief see that you are a great man ; 
you must make a smart appearance if you wish to im- 
press these savages," a remark which shows that East 
Africans have some notions of policy. 
The palace was only a few hundred yards' distance 
from the camp, and we found it in the midst of a 
dense plantation of plantains. We first came to a 
strong, well-built stockade of poles, the entrance 
of which was by a small dog-kennel opening, closed 
generally by a portcullis of heavy planks. Passing 
through this we stood before another similar stockade, 
and beyond that was an enclosure, in the centre of 
which rose the royal house of Moche, with two or 
three huts of the ordinary description standing about 
it. It was a better establishment than I had expected 
to find in these regions. The principal hut was a 
square structure, built of rough boards, cut out with 
the adze, set up against a frame-work of squared 
posts and rails, and bound together with thongs of 
