be drowned near the body of their
master.

One cannot imagine what those horrible hecatombs are, when a powerful
chief's memory must be fitly honored among these tribes of Central
Africa. Cameron says that more than a hundred victims were thus
sacrificed at the funeral ceremonies of the King of Kassongo's father.

It is also the custom for the defunct king to be dressed in his most
costly clothes before being laid in his tomb. But this time, as there
was nothing left of the royal person except a few burnt bones, it was
necessary to proceed in another manner. A willow manikin was made,
representing Moini Loungga sufficiently well, perhaps advantageously,
and in it they shut up the remains the combustion had spared. The
manikin was then clothed with the royal vestments--we know that those
clothes are not worth much--and they did not forget to ornament it
with Cousin Benedict's famous spectacles. There was something terribly
comic in this masquerade.

The ceremony would take place with torches and with great pomp. The
whole population of Kazounde, native or not, must assist at it.

When the evening had come, a long cortege descended the principal
street, from the _tchitoka_ as far as the burial place. Cries,
funeral dances, magicians' incantations, noises from instruments and
detonations from old muskets from the arsenals--nothing was lacking in
it.

Jose-Antonio Alvez, Coimbra, Negoro, the Arab traders and their
overseers had increased the ranks of Kazounde's people. No one had yet
left the great _lakoni_. Queen Moini would not permit it, and it would
not be prudent to disobey the orders of one who was trying the trade
of sovereign.

The body of the king, laid in a palanquin, was carried in the last
ranks of the cortege. It was surrounded by his wives of the second
order, some of whom were going to accompany him beyond this life.
Queen Moini, in great state, marched behind what might be called the
catafalque. It was positively night when all the people arrived on
the banks of the brook; but the resin torches, shaken by the porters,
threw great bursts of light over the crowd.

The ditch was seen distinctly. It was carpeted with black, living
bodies, for they moved under the chains that bound them to the ground.
Fifty slaves were waiting there till the torrent should close over
them. The majority were young natives, some resigned and mute, others
giving a few groans. The wives all dressed as for a _fete_, and who