Chap. XXII. 
SAXSAWE’S IDEA OF DIQXITY. 
443 
their hair woven into the form of a European hat, and it was only 
by a closer inspectionJ^hat its nature was detected. Others had it 
arranged in tufts, with a threefold cord along the ridge of each 
tuft; while others, again, follow the ancient Egyptian fashion, 
having the whole mass of wool plaited into cords, aU hanging 
down as far as the shoulders. This mode, with the somewhat 
Egyptian cast of countenance in other parts of Londa, reminded 
me strongly of the paintings of that nation in the British Museum. 
We had now rain every day, and the sky seldom presented 
that cloudless aspect and clear blue, so common in the dry lands 
of the south. The heavens are often overcast by large white 
motionless masses, which stand for hours in the same position, 
and the intervening spaces are filled with a milk-and-water-looking 
haze. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, I ob¬ 
tained good observations for the longitude of tliis important point 
on both sides of the Quango, and found the river running in 
9° 50' S. lat., 18° 33' E. long. 
On proceeding to our former station near Sansawe’s vfilage, he 
ran to meet us with wonderful urbanity, asking if we had seen 
Moene Put, king of the white men (or Portuguese); and added, 
on parting, that he would come to receive his dues in the evening. 
I replied that, as he had treated us^so scmwily, even forbidding his 
people to sell us any food, if he did not bring a fowl and some eggs, 
as part of liis duty as a chief, he should receive no present from 
me. When he came, it was in the usual Londa way of showing 
the exalted position he occupies, mounted on the shoulders of liis 
spokesman, as schoolboys sometimes do in England, and as was 
represented to have been the case in the southern islands when 
Captain Cook visited them. My companions, amused at his idea 
of dignity, greeted liim with a hearty laugh. He visited the 
native traders first, and then came to me mth two cocks as a 
present. I spoke to liim about the impolicy of the treatment we 
had received at his hands, and quoted the example of the Bangalas, 
who had been conquered by the Portuguese, for tliek extortionate 
demands of payment for firewood, grass, water, &c.; and concluded 
by denying his right to any payment for simply passing through 
uncultivated land. To all this he agreed; and then I gave him, 
as a token of friendship, a pannikin of coarse powder, two iron 
spoons, and two yards of coarse printed calico. He looked rather 
