ing in the gift; then thanks are
proferred for the leniency of the king in letting the presenter off so
cheaply, and the pardoned man retires, full of smiles, to the ranks of
the squatters. Thousands of cattle, and strings of women and children,
sometimes the result of a victorious plundering hunt, or else the
accumulated seizures from refractory Wakungu, are brought in; for there
is no more common or acceptable offering to appease the king's wrath
towards any refractory or blundering officer than a present of a few
young beauties, who may perhaps be afterwards given as the reward of
good service to other officers.

Stick-charms, being pieces of wood of all shapes, supposed to have
supernatural virtues, and coloured earths, endowed with similar
qualities, are produced by the royal magicians. The master of the hunt
exposes his spoils--such as antelopes, cats, porcupines, curious rats,
etc., all caught in nets, and placed in baskets--zebra, lion, and
buffalo skins being added. The fishermen bring their spoils; also the
gardeners. The cutlers show knives and forks made of iron inlaid with
brass and copper; the furriers, most beautifully-sewn patchwork of
antelopes' skins; the habit-maker, sheets of mbugu barkcloth; the
blacksmith, spears; the maker of shields, his productions;--and so
forth; but nothing is ever given without rubbing it down, then rubbing
the face, and going through a long form of salutation for the gracious
favour the king has shown in accepting it.

When tired of business, the king rises, spear in hand, and, leading his
dog, walked off without word or comment leaving his company, like dogs,
to take care of themselves.

Strict as the discipline of the exterior court is, that of the interior
is not less severe. The pages all wear turbans of cord made from aloe
fibres. Should a wife commit any trifling indiscretion, either by word
or deed, she is condemned to execution on the spot, bound by the pages
and dragged out. Notwithstanding the stringent laws for the preservation
of decorum by all male attendants, stark-naked full-grown women are the
valets.

On the first appearance of the new moon every month, the king shuts
himself up, contemplating and arranging his magic horns--the horns of
wild animals stuffed with charm-powder--for two or three days. These
may be counted his Sundays or church festivals, which he dedicates to
devotion. On other days he takes his women, some hundreds, to bathe
or sport in p