me to his country, to go where I
liked, and do what I chose. We then went (two boys carrying his
train behind him) to an inner apartment, where the articles of
my present were exhibited in detail. He had examined them
privately before, and we knew that he was satisfied. They
consisted of eight yards of orange-coloured serge, a large
striped tablecloth; another large cloth made at Manchester in
imitation of West Coast native manufacture, which never fails to
excite the admiration of Arabs and natives, and a large richly
gilded comb for the back hair, such as ladies wore fifty years
ago: this was given to me by a friend at Liverpool, and as
Casembe and Nsama's people cultivate the hair into large knobs
behind, I was sure that this article would tickle the fancy.
Casembe expressed himself pleased, and again bade me welcome.

I had another interview, and tried to dissuade him from selling
his people as slaves. He listened awhile, then broke off into a
tirade on the greatness of his country, his power and dominion,
which Mohamad bin Saleh, who has been here for ten years,
turned into ridicule, and made the audience laugh by telling how
other Lunda chiefs had given me oxen and sheep, while Casembe
had only a poor little goat and some fish to bestow. He insisted
also that there were but two sovereigns in the world, the Sultan
of Zanzibar and Victoria. When we went on a third occasion to
bid Casembe farewell, he was much less distant, and gave me the
impression that I could soon become friends with him; but he has
an ungainly look, and an outward squint in each eye. A number of
human skulls adorned the entrance to his courtyard; and great
numbers of his principal men having their ears cropped, and some
with their hands lopped off, showed his barbarous way of making
his ministers attentive and honest. I could not avoid indulging
a prejudice against him.

The Portuguese visited Casembe long ago; but as each new Casembe
builds a new town, it is not easy to fix on the exact spot to
which strangers came. The last seven Casembes have had their
towns within seven miles of the present one. Dr. Lacerda,
Governor of Tette, on the Zambesi, was the only visitor of
scientific attainments, and he died at the rivulet called
Chungu, three or four miles from this. The spot is called
Nshinda,