222 
THE NEW AFRICA 
by signs and occasional assistance from interpreters, enabled us 
to understand each other. His name was Gonsalvus, and to 
show his friendly intentions, he brought us some pistachio nuts 
and a little corn, telling us that the king was so stingy about 
food that he had the greatest difficulty in feeding himself while 
trading here for ostrich feathers. He also expressed his willing¬ 
ness to accompany us to Benguela on the West Coast, whence 
he had started on his trip here, recommending us to follow 
the Okovanga up to the affluent Quito, and then to proceed 
up the Quito to its source, and so on out to the West Coast. 
The natives here call this class of man ‘ Mambarri.’ 
Conforming to the rule of the country, we sent a present to 
the king immediately on our arrival, consisting of powder, lead, 
shirts, blankets, beads, and brass wire. This was taken over to 
the island by one of the king’s messengers, whom he had sent to 
interview us as soon as we came. Our hopes that the king 
would look upon this really liberal opening present with favour¬ 
able eyes were short-lived indeed; for soon the messenger—a 
powerfully built, tall man about forty years of age, with the 
manners of a wild beast—returned, and, hurling the goods on 
the ground, contemptuously informed us that the king said 
these trifles would not even pay for the water we so greedily 
drank on reaching the river. 
As all our future successes depended upon propitiating this 
king, we sent additional presents to the value of £20 cost price 
on the coast—more than he probably had ever seen at one time 
before—and waited. After a short time the man returned again; 
this time we were glad to see that the canoe that ferried him over 
did not bring back the goods we had despatched. He, however, 
brought about 10 lb. weight of corn from the king—to sell! It is 
usual for a king to supply his visitors with food free of charge, 
and we had conjectured that this potentate had, when requesting 
further presents, only sought to liberally cover himself for the 
outlay of corn and food it was proper form for him to supply us 
with. We bought the corn—and also several baskets more that 
were brought to us by some other Mombokooshus, subjects of 
