A Visit to Banza Chisalla. 109 
hundred huts, opposite which trading vessels an¬ 
chored under charge of the “ Fuka or king’s mer¬ 
chant ; ” no market was held there, lest, in case of 
dispute, the royal person might suffer. Although 
the main features of our maps are still correct, 
there have been great changes in the river-bed 
between Porto da Lenha and Boma, especially 
about the latter place, which should be transferred 
from its present site to Lumbi. The broad 
Chisalla Creek, which Mr. Maxwell calls Logan, 
between the northern bank and the island “ Booka 
Embomma,” is now an arm only 200 feet wide. 
In fact all the bank about Boma, like the lower 
delta, urgently calls for re-surveying. 
This part of the river belongs to the “ Rei dos 
Reis,” Nessalla, under whom are some ten chief 
officers called “ kings,” who buy and sell; indeed, 
Africa knows no other. The title is prostituted 
throughout the West Coast, but it is nowhere so de¬ 
graded as in the Congo regions; the whites abuse 
it to flatter the vanity of the astute negro, who 
accepts it with a view to results—a “ king-dash ” 
must, of course, be greater than that of a subject. 
Every fellow with one black coat becomes a 
“ preese ” (prince), and if he has two he styles 
himself a “ king.” Without permission of the 
“ King of Kings ” we could obtain neither inter¬ 
preter, canoe, nor crew; a visit to Banza Chisalal 
was therefore necessary and, as it would have been 
