LAND JOURNEY, 
543 
gage, could not be procured without endless pala- 
vers ; and after having agreed over-night, they 
would often desert before morning. The coun- 
try was now much more barren ; the villages, of 
which the principal were Cooloo, Mavoonda, and 
Inga, were smaller and more distant from each 
other. Society assumed a more purely African 
aspect. The tattered fragments of European 
finery were scarcely to be seen, and their place 
was supplied by the grass-cloth of the country; 
the supply even of which was far from ample, 
the sole attire of the females usually consisting in 
an apron about a hand's breadth. Though not 
inaccessible, they were no longer obtruded in the 
same shameless manner, and value was even at- 
tached to the virtue of the married ladies, pro- 
vided too powerful inducements were not offered 
for its sacrifice. In advancing up the river a visi- 
ble declension was observed in their charms ; and 
some of those seen by Captain Tuckey are consi- 
dered by him as only rivalled in deformity by the 
females of New Holland. 
The whole of this region, from the mouth of 
the river to a considerable distance above Inga, 
belongs to the sovereign called Lindy, or Blindy 
Congo, who resides at Banza Congo, six days' jour- 
ney in the interior from Tall Trees, on the south 
side of the river. This is probably the St Salvador 
of the Portuguese, who are said to have still a set- 
4@ 
