A TRIAL BY ORDEAL.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
VOYAGE UP THE RIVER—WE BUILD A VILLAGE NEAR OBINDJI—QUENGUEZA'S PLAN FOR KEEPING THE SABBATH—KINDNESS OF THE NATIVES—A TRIAL BY ORDEAL.
King Quengueza accompanied me on my voyage up the Rembo and Ovenga rivers. We were followed by a great many canoes, and by chiefs of the Ashira and Bakalai tribes. We were going to the Bakalai country. The weather was intensely hot; even the negroes suffered; and, though I had a thick umbrella over my head, and sat quite still, I had frequently to bathe my head and keep wet handkerchiefs in my banana hat; for I feared a sunstroke.
The river was narrow and deep, flowing generally between high lands and hills, and now and then in the midst of flats.
Everybody complained except Macondai. He was the most spirited little negro I ever saw, a real little hero. I tell you that many, very many, of these African boys have a good deal of pluck, although they are black.
Two days after we started, we arrived, a little before sunset, at the village of Obindji, a Bakalai chief, who was a great friend of Quengueza. Wherever we passed a Bakalai village the people rushed down to the banks to see me. As we approached the village of Obindji, our men fired guns and sang songs. Obindji came down in great state, dressed in his silk hat, a shirt, and a nice cloth. He was ringing his kendo—a bell, which is the insignia of kingship there—a sort of royal sceptre. The high-crowned silk hat, also, as I said before, is worn only by the chiefs.
I said to Obindji, "Why do you ring your kendo?"
He replied, "Obindji's heart is glad, and he thanks his Mboundji (a spirit) that he has to-day come up higher than he ever stood before—a ntanga (white man) has come to see Obindji."
When we had landed, and the two kings and I were seated on the stools used in that country, the grand reception began. Quengueza gave to his friend Obindji, and to all the Bakalai who surrounded us, an account of his entire intercourse with me, from the time he came down to see me at the seashore to the present hour.