, so we bought enough postal cards to
establish us as _etrangers de distinction_, and he sent up our
names. With Pivani, Hatton & Cookson's chief clerk we were escorted
to the royal presence. The palace is a fantastic, pagoda-like
building of three stories; and furnished with many mirrors, carved
oak sideboards, and lamp-shades of colored glass. Mango Bell, King
of the Cameroons, sounds like a character in a comic opera, but the
king was an extremely serious, tall, handsome, and self-respecting
negro. Having been educated in England, he spoke much more correct
English than any of us. Of the few "Kings I Have Met," both tame and
wild, his manners were the most charming. Back of the palace is an
enormously long building under one roof. Here live his thirty-five
queens. To them we were not presented.

[Illustration: The Palace of the King of the Cameroons.]

Prince William asked me if I knew where in America there was a
street called Fifth Avenue. I suggested New York. He referred to a
large Bible, and finding, much to his surprise, that my guess was
correct, commissioned me to buy him, from a firm on that street,
just such another Bible as the one in his hand. He forgot to give me
the money to pay for it, but loaned us a half-dozen little princes
to bear our purchases to the wharf. For this service their royal
highnesses graciously condescended to receive a small "dash," and
with the chief clerk were especially delighted. He, being a
sleight-of-hand artist, apparently took five-franc pieces out of
their Sunday clothes and from their kinky hair. When we left they
were rapidly disrobing to find if any more five-franc pieces were
concealed about their persons.

The morning after we sailed from Duala we anchored in the river in
front of Calabar, the capital of Southern Nigeria. Of all the ports
at which we touched on the Coast, Calabar was the hottest, the best
looking, and the best administered. It is a model colony, but to
bring it to the state it now enjoys has cost sums of money entirely
out of proportion to those the colony has earned. The money has been
spent in cutting down the jungle, filling in swamps that breed
mosquitoes and fever, and in laying out gravel walks, water mains,
and open cement gutters, and in erecting model hospitals, barracks,
and administrative offices. Even grass has been made to grow, and
the high bluff upon which are situated the homes of the white
officials and Government House has been tr