Now that we have become acclimatized, and have learned the language, we must bid good-by to the sea-shore King.
After many wanderings I came to a very wild tribe who knew the use of fire-arms. The natives were kind-hearted toward me. I had been left there by the people of another tribe, who immediately afterwards returned to their country. The King loved me, and after I had remained with him for a while and hunted, and thought it was time to leave, he called a great council, and after a whole day of deliberation it was agreed that Mienjai—a man of great bravery—and other men should take me and my outfit to another tribe further inland.
We left. The path had been much neglected on account of war; in many places it could be seen but indistinctly, and in other places we had to guess our way through a dense jungle before we found it again.
The third day we lost our way, and after wandering through the forest for quite a while Mienjai saw a path, and said: "Let us follow it. I think it is a hunting-path, and that it leads to one of the villages of the tribe to which we are going." So we took the path, and soon we came to another, which was much used by people. When Mienjai saw this he smiled, and his big mouth seemed to open from ear to ear, and at the same time showed two rows of teeth, the upper and lower incisors, or front teeth, being filed to a point.
FRIEND PAUL ENTERS THE NATIVE VILLAGE.
After walking in the path for about two hours we came to a village, which barred the way. The village was fenced all round with high poles, upon many of which were skulls of wild beasts. The gate was closed, and we could hear the sound of many voices inside. Mienjai shouted to the people that he was Mienjai, the nephew of Rabolo, that we were friendly, and that they must let us in. Two men came to the gate, and after holding a conversation with Mienjai and my men they let us in.
How strange and wild-looking these two men appeared! Each carried an old-fashioned flint-gun. Their faces and bodies were painted with different colors. Each had round his waist a leopard-skin belt. They looked at me with amazement. I had long black hair, which fell on my shoulders, and this filled them with wonder. The houses of the village were built of the bark of trees; they had no windows and only one door. At the end of the street, which was not very long, there was a great crowd of people, and every man had one of those trade flint-guns. I did not like the looks of the people with those guns, for I would rather see natives armed with spears, even with poisoned arrows, than with guns.
Then we passed by the idol-house, and I saw a big idol, of the size of a human being and representing a woman. How ugly she looked! One of her cheeks was painted yellow, the other white; she held in her hand a stick.