Fortunately, Quengueza and I could talk together, the Commi being his native language.
He told me there were plenty of gorillas and nshiegos in his country; and that, if I would come, I should have liberty and protection to hunt and to do what I pleased. No one would hurt my people, or Ranpano's people, or myself, or anybody, added he, with emphasis, that should come with me.
I liked the old king at first sight; but I little guessed then that he would afterwards become so fond of me, and that I should love him so much. Yes, I shall remember my good friend Quengueza as long as I live. Though he is a poor heathen, his heart was full of love for me, and he possessed many manly and noble qualities.
I was so much pleased with King Quengueza's visit that I sent the kind-hearted old fellow off with his canoes full of presents of iron bars, brass rods, chests, etc.; and I gave him goods on trust with which to buy me ebony. He promised me great sport, and an introduction to some tribes of whom these Commi men of the seashore knew nothing.
To do him greater honour my people fired a salute as he started off, with which he was highly delighted, as an African is sure to be with noise. He did not go before making me promise to come and see him as soon as the rainy season arrived.
The dry season was now setting in. It was the first I had spent in the Commi country; and I devoted the whole month of July to exploring the country along the seashore, between the Fernand-Vaz and the sea.
There was quite a change. The birds, which were so abundant during the rainy season, had taken their leave; and other birds, in immense numbers, flocked in to feed on the fish, which now leave the seashore and the bars of the river's mouth and ascend the river to spawn. Fish, particularly mullet, were so abundant in the river that two or three times, when I took my evening airing on the water in a flat upper-river canoe, enough mullet would leap into the boat to furnish me a breakfast the next day. The quantity of fish in the shallow water was prodigious.
The breakers on the shore, never very light, were now frightful to see. The coast was rendered inaccessible by them even to the natives, and the surf increased to such a degree, even at the mouth of the river, that it was difficult, and often impossible, to enter with a canoe. Strong winds from the south prevailed, and, though the sky was constantly overcast, not a drop of rain fell. The thermometer fell sometimes early in the morning to 64° of Fahrenheit, and I suffered from cold, as did also the poor natives. The grass on the prairie was dried up or burnt over; the ponds were dried up; only the woods kept their resplendent green.
I was often left alone in that great prairie with my cook and my little boy Macondai, and a dear little boy he was. I felt perfectly safe among the good Commi. I always had tried to do right with them, and I had reaped my reward. They loved me, and anyone who should have tried to injure me would have no doubt been put to death or exiled from the country. I shall always remember my little village of Washington and the good Commi people. When perchance I got a chill the whole village was in distress. No one was allowed to talk loud, and everyone would call during the day and sit by me with a sad face for hours without saying a word, and, when they went away, they all expressed their sorrow to see me ill. The kind women would bring me wild fruits, or cold water from the spring, in which to bathe my burning and aching head; and sometimes tears would drop from their eyes and run down their kind black faces.