e. We were informed that the body of the queen
was in her sleeping chamber, and thither we hastened, to find the
apartment in possession of about a dozen physicians, who had hurried to
the palace upon the summons of the chief lady-in-waiting, and who had
just completed their examination of the body. They all agreed that
death was the result of poison, self-administered; and indeed there
seemed to be no room for any other conclusion, for when the corpse was
discovered a tiny flask was found tightly grasped in the right hand, the
odour clinging to which, and to the lips of the dead woman, proclaimed
beyond all question that it had contained bicari, a decoction prepared
from the root of the combuti plant, and one of the most deadly toxics
known to the Africans of the interior.

The fact of the queen's death being fully established, Anuti gave orders
that the body should be prepared in the usual way for public cremation
on the following day, after which the chamber was to be closed and
sealed, and a guard of honour mounted before it. In the meantime, while
these orders were being carried out, we all adjourned to the council
chamber, where we were soon afterward joined by several other nobles and
chiefs, who had been hastily summoned; and a council was held at which
it was decided that, for expediency's sake, Anuti should at once take up
his abode at the palace, and that he should be proclaimed king that same
evening. Mounted messengers were accordingly sent forth into the city,
summoning the people to assemble before the palace at an hour
corresponding to ten o'clock; and at that hour the ceremony of
proclamation was duly performed.

The scene was one of considerable barbaric splendour, chiefly by reason
of the magnificent dresses worn by the various personages who took part
in it. It happened that all the nobles and chiefs who were really of
paramount importance were dwellers in the city. It was consequently
possible for every one of them to be present; and as they all held high
rank either in the army or what may be called the civil service, and
wore the full-dress uniform of their rank upon this occasion, the
display of golden armour and weapons, richly embroidered robes and
banners, and jewelled and feathered head-dresses glittering in the
somewhat smoky light of thousands of blazing torches presented a
spectacle which I shall never forget.

The act of proclamation was performed from the steps leading up to the