es, where the odour of decayed vegetable matter
was sickening, until we came to a great mountain rearing its snowy crest
into the clouds, which Omar told me was called the Nauri. Hence, when we
had rested two days to recruit in the sunlight after the dispiriting
gloom of the primeval forest, we held on our way, passing many native
villages, the inhabitants of each showing marked friendliness towards our
Dagombas.

Kona, our headman, was a tall, pleasant-faced negro, raw-boned and
awkward, with huge hands and splay feet, but his muscles were hard as
iron and his strength astounding. He treated Omar as a prince, always
deferential to his wishes, and regarded me as an honoured visitor to the
unknown but powerful protector of his sovereign. Though fraught with many
dangers on account of the wild beasts lurking in the forests and the
snakes on the plains, our journey nevertheless proved extremely pleasant,
for in Kona we found a true and sympathetic friend.

Once he spoke to me of Queen Victoria, and his words amused me. He said
with impressive earnestness:

"Ah! The Queen of the English is, next to the Great White Queen, the
mightiest and cleverest woman in the world. She sees the treasures in the
interior of the earth, and has them lifted. She spans the world with iron
threads, and when she touches them they carry her words into the world.
She has steamers running on dry land. If a mountain is in her way she has
a hole made through it. If a river interferes, she builds a road across
in the air. And the Queen of the English and the Great White Queen of Mo
are richer than all other women together. They are the most beautiful
women in the world, and their husbands paid nothing for them."

When at night around our camp fire we would relate to him the treachery
of Kouaga, and our adventures in the hands of Samory and Prempeh, he
would stir the embers viciously and call down the curse of Zomara upon
them all.

"When the son of the great Naya of Mo punishes his enemies, Kona will go
and assist in their destruction," he said one night. "Kona's knife shall
seek their hearts."

"So it shall," Omar had replied, assured of the loyalty of this negro
ally. "You are our guide and friend; rest assured that when we enter Mo
you shall not be forgotten."

And we went forward next day all in excellent spirits, all eager to enter
the unknown land.

A few days' march from the mystic mountain of Nauri we approached a
little town called