NATIVE BEADS 
163 
MATAMBANJA 
Matambanja was a man about fifty years of age, rather above 
the middle height, with broad shoulders, and a mouth that did 
not at any rate belie itself by the large draughts of beer it took 
in. His skin was lighter in colour 
than the ordinary native’s, of a 
yellowish tint; and his bearing that 
of one accustomed to command. 
Altogether a superior class of 
native, with a go-ahead and no- 
nonsense sort of manner about 
him. Whether to attribute our 
subsequent difficulties directly to 
him, we know not; but the fact 
remains that he certainly never 
kept one of his promises, or helped 
us in any way, but remained at 
best neutral, during the events 
that harassed us afterwards. 
The beads he wore round his neck were of light blue tints, 
disposed with a nicety that distinctly displayed an appreciation 
of the finer shades of colour and the arrangement of various 
patterns. His men also wore necklaces of beads, flat white— 
the first I had seen—with red and blue mixed, and interspersed 
with bits of reed cut into proper shape to eke out the length, 
while several very small dark buck-horns served as pendants 
dangling on the chest in front—altogether a very pretty orna¬ 
ment. 
We breakfasted after the chief had left, and walked back to 
camp on the Liana river without further adventure. Hammar 
came down to the drift to meet us as soon as he espied us at the 
bank, and reported ‘ all right, except that old Sarah, one of the 
donkeys, had died from fly-bite, and that the other two were 
almost unable to walk from stiffness brought about by the same 
cause. The natives had not been near him, nor attempted to 
molest the camp in any manner whatever. Old Nana, our 
white goat, had given birth to a beautiful snow-white kid, which 
