Up the Congo River. 
8 7 
hands as if to stab each other. These figures are 
sometimes found large as life: according to the 
agents, the spikes are driven in before the wars be¬ 
gin, and every one promises the hoped-for death of 
an enemy. Behind them the house was guarded 
by a sentinel with drawn sword. The unfortunate 
tenant, who looked a martyr to ague, sat “ in 
palaver ” with a petty island “ king,” and at times 
the tap of a war-drum roused my experienced ear. 
The monarch, habited in a shabby cloth coat, 
occupied a settee, with a “ minister” on either side ; 
he was a fat senior of light complexion, with a 
vicious expression upon features, which were not 
those of the “ tobacconist nigger,” nor had he the 
effeminate aspect of the Congoese. 
I looked curiously at these specimens of the 
Musulungu or Musurungu, a wilder race than 
that of Shark Point: the English, of course, call 
them Missolonghi, because Lord Byron died there. 
Here the people say “ le” for “ re,” and “ rua” for 
“ lua,” confounding both liquids, which may also 
be found in the Kibundo tongue. In Loango, 
according to the Abbe Proyart, the national organ 
does not admit the roughness of the r, which 
is changed to 1 . Monteiro and Gamitto assert 
(xxii.) that the “ Cazembes or Lundas do not pro¬ 
nounce the letter r, in whose place they use 1.” 
The “ Ibos” of the lower Congo, dwelling on the 
southern shore between the mouth and the Porto 
