PIONEERING EXPEDITION TO SAN SALVADOR. 77 
to inform the King of Makuta of their approach ; and 
for what purpose they wished to pass through his 
country. Mr. Comber and his colleague were greatly 
encouraged by the favourable report with which the 
ambassadors returned. The king was willing to see 
them ; but curious to know what they really wanted. 
What do the white men want every day coming to 
my country? Let them come and see me.” Such 
was his message. It should be here observed that no 
white man had ever been in Tungwa. The king had 
probably heard of Stanley from some of his neigh- 
bours ; and Grandy, the only other white man who 
could be in question, had not been permitted to enter 
the town. 
We can imagine the feelings of delight with which 
Mr. Comber received this permission to proceed. As 
he heard from the brow of the hill the sounds of the 
welcoming drums in the town below, such preparations 
as could be made were speedily effected, “ the carriers 
donning their best bit of cloth and finery, and our 
own Cameroons boys putting on clean shirts.” The 
description of the reception must be given in Mr. 
Comber’s own graphic style : — 
“ As we strode down the hill and crossed the river, 
which is about twenty feet wide and from two to six 
feet deep, more of the inhabitants gathered about us, 
curious and fearless, but not impertinent, and we fol- 
lowed our good friend Matoka into the centre of the 
town, and found that the people were in a great state 
of excited curiosity. Some hundreds formed a half- 
circle at the front of the house, under the eaves of 
which we sat, and they were eagerly pressing upon 
one another, and gazing at us with that intense wonder- 
ing gaze which I had before encountered in interior 
Cameroons. One fine-looking old woman especially 
interested me, who took her pipe from her mouth, and 
looked at us long and silently, with piercing eyes and 
half-opened mouth ; and this old woman was nearly 
always amongst the crowd, constantly sitting at a 
