Chaga. 383 
cowhide. It contained two apartments, one of course 
on the ground-floor, and a garret over-head, the divi- 
sion being constructed of rafters of the muale, with 
smaller strips of the same wood bound closely- 
together across them. The garret, I was told, was the 
sanctum sanctorum of the mange, where he keeps all 
his valuables, his curiosities, his insignia of office, and 
his great medicines. 
When I entered the house, the chief was sitting in 
the middle of the lower room, over a few sticks that 
were burning on the floor. He sat upon what I sup- 
pose I might call his throne, a four-legged stool, a foot 
high and the same in diameter, the seat being circu- 
lar, accommodatingly hollowed out, and well polished 
by use. He was clothed in the style of yesterday, his 
only dress being his soft, brown, well-fitting skin. He 
had been drinking hard, was still engaged with his 
cups, Muinyi Mbuana acting as his Ganymede ! I 
thought I had never seen a savage till now. 
But his conduct was more shocking than his 
appearance, and I dare not describe it in full. He 
received me in the most churlish manner, allowing me 
nothing better to sit upon than the edge of a board 
and a block of wood, and finding both extremely un- 
comfortable I took to the floor. The room contained 
no furniture of any kind, and was really too filthy for 
a stable. 
For some time the mange scarcely looked at me, 
to say nothing about speaking to me ; but he con- 
tinued to drink hard at the bowl, every moment 
becoming more sullen and gloomy. At length he 
began to speak in a way I least expected. In a 
bantering tone he asked Muinyi Mbuana who was 
