546 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
I thanked him for his decision, and, with respect to 
his caution, said I was accustomed to guarantee my 
own safety and to make no one responsible for my life. 
Before retiring, he made a lot more requests, which as 
usual could not be satisfied, as I did not possess a single 
article he wanted. One of his demands, which he 
repeated daily, was for half-a-dozen horses. Having 
seen me arrive on foot, and knowing full well that I 
had no horses, such a request was a pure impertinence. 
I afterwards learned that this latest decision of Lobossi 
was due to the reiterated counsels of Machauana, who 
kept pointing out to him the impropriety of the step 
he was urging, of compelling me to leave his dominions 
against my own will.. 
On the morning of the 4th, being somewhat better of 
my fever, I attended an audience of the King, who 
behaved towards me in a very amicable way. It was 
Lobossi’s custom, at sunrise, to leave his quarters, and, 
at the sound of marimbas and drums, to proceed to 
the great Square, where he took his seat near a lofty 
semicircular fence, the centre of which was occupied by 
the royal chair. Behind him squatted the natives who 
composed his Court, and on his right were Gambella 
and the other counsellors, if present. In front of the 
sovereign, and at about twenty paces distant, stood his 
musicians in a line, and files of the people were ranged 
at the sides. Many causes which did not require to be 
treated in the privy council were there heard and tried, 
for the audience was in every sense a judicial one. On 
the day in question, among other matters, was a case of 
robbery. The complainant summoned the accused 
(who squatted down in front), and stated his grounds 
of complaint. The accused denied the crime, and at 
once a man came forward from among the people to 
defend him. Any friend or relative is competent for 
such a purpose. Gambella acted as public prosecutor, 
and, the accused kneeling before him, he put a variety 
of questions to which the other replied. The discussion 
went on, and various witnesses for the accusation and 
defence came forward in turn. The crime was held to 
