Return to the Congo Mouth. 303 
We entered on the next afternoon Gidi Ma- 
vunga’s village, where the lieges received him with 
shouts and hand-clappings: at the Papagayo’s 
there was a dance which lasted through that night 
and the next. I stayed three days at Chinguvu 
finishing my sketches, but to have recovered any¬ 
thing from the guide would have required three 
weeks. The old villain relaxed his vigilance over 
the women, who for the first time were allowed to 
enter the doors without supervision: Merolla 
treats of this stale trick, and exclaims,— 
“ Ah pereat! didicit fallere si qua virum.” 
I was reminded of the classical sentiment upon 
the Rio de S. Francisco (“ Highlands of the 
Brazil,” ii. chap, xiv.), where, amongst other senti¬ 
ments, the boatmen severely denounce in song 
“ Mulher que engana tropeiro.” 
As a rule throughout West Africa, where even 
the wildest tribes practise it, the “panel dodge” 
served, as Dupuis remarked, to supply the slave- 
trade, and in places like Abeokuta it became a 
nuisance : the least penalty to which it leads is 
the confiscation of the Lothario’s goods and 
chattels. Foiled in his benevolent attempt, the 
covetous senior presently entered the hut, and 
began unceremoniously to open a package of cloth 
which did not belong to him. Selim cocked his 
