146 Up the Congo to Banza Nokki. 
only clap hands : now the verandah is surrounded 
by a squatting crowd and resounds with endless 
chatter and scream. 
N essudikira, whose eyes by way of grandeur 
never wandered from the floor, shook hands 
with us without rising from his chair, somewhat 
after the fashion of certain women in civilized 
society, who would be dignified, and who are not. 
His father, Gidi Mavunga, knelt before him on 
the ground, a mat being forbidden in the presence : 
he made the “ batta-palmas” before he addressed 
his “ filho de pistola,” as he called him, in opposi¬ 
tion to filho de fazenda. The “king” had lately 
been crowned in virtue of his mother being a uterine 
sister of his predecessor. Here the goods and dig¬ 
nity of the father revert after death to his eldest 
maternal brother ; to his eldest nephew, that is, 
the eldest son of the eldest uterine sister, and, all 
others failing, to the first born of the nearest ma¬ 
ternal relative. This subjection of sire to son is, 
however, mainly ceremonious : in private life the 
king wears a cotton pagne, and his “ governor” 
asserts his birth-right even by wigging royalty. 
We disposed ourselves upon seamens chests 
covered with red baize, fronting the semi-circle of 
frock-coated “ gentlemen ” and half-naked depend¬ 
ants and slaves. Proceedings began with the 
“ mata-bicho” derigueur, the inevitable preliminary 
and conclusion of all life-business between birth 
