that if we
wished to benefit the Africans we should remain and exercise our skill
on him and his people."

This answer was anything but satisfactory. We had accordingly, as
before, to shrug our shoulders and submit for the present, not
intending, however, much longer to comply with the fancies of the sable
monarch.

CHAPTER TEN.

KING QUAGOMOLO WILL NOT LET US GO--HE SHOWS US HIS PLANTAIN GROVE--
SCHEMES FOR ESCAPE--START ON AN ELEPHANT HUNT--ELEPHANTS CAUGHT BY TRAPS
AND NETS--TWO NATIVES CRUSHED TO DEATH--PART OF AN ELEPHANT CUT OFF FOR
THE IDOLS--A NATIVE DANCE--THE KING NOT SUCH A FOOL AS WE TAKE HIM FOR--
DETAINED BY RAIN--ENTER AN HOSTILE COUNTRY--ENCAMP AND FEAST--TOBACCO
AND PALM-WINE MAKE HIS MAJESTY WAX VALIANT--WE KEEP WATCH--A NIGHT
ATTACK--CAPTURED BY KING SANGA TANGA--HOW CAN TUBBS REJOIN US--TRY TO
EXPLAIN TO THE KING--WE GO TO GET TOM--KING QUAGOMOLO'S SURPRISE--RETURN
WITH TOM AND THE KNAPSACKS--HUGE APES--THE NSHIEGO'S HOUSE--DISTURB
DOMESTIC HAPPINESS--SEPARATED FROM MY COMPANIONS--SEE A FIRE--A CHARMING
FAMILY--I RETREAT--CLIMB A TREE--AN UNPLEASANT VISITOR--I GO TO SLEEP.

Day after day passed by, and still King Quagomolo made some excuse for
not allowing us to proceed on our journey. He could well afford to
support us, for, savage as were he and his people in most respects, they
possessed an unusually large plantation of plantains, on a piece of
level ground a short distance from the lake. He took special pride in
it, and invited us to pay it a visit. We could not calculate how many
trees there were, though there must have been upwards of twenty
thousand. The trees stood about five feet apart, and the bunches of
plantains which each tree produced weighed from thirty to fifty pounds,
those from some of the larger trees much more. There were several
varieties even in the same grove. The king informed us that some of
these trees bear fruit six or seven months after the sprouts are
planted, others, again, take two or three months longer before they bear
fruit; and what we may consider the finer species do not begin to bear
until about eighteen months after the sprouts are put into the ground,
but these last bear by far the larger bunches. This plantain grove was
one of the pleasantest sights we had witnessed since we had landed on
the shores of Africa. No cereal on the same space of ground, however
highly cultivated, could afford the same amount of food.

We complimented the king, t